If certain MPs or MLAs abstained from voting in the presidential election, their constituents would go unrepresented, Opposition leader L K Advani told Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami in a letter. He added that any such move to deny representation to a large section of the electorate would be contrary to parliamentary democracy and the principle of representation of citizens through elected members.
The BJP leader was referring to the UNPA’s call to all its members to abstain from casting their votes.
Meanwhile, the Third Front named former Union minister Rasheed Masood as its candidate for the Vice-President’s election. The eight-party alliance is the first group to name its nominee for the polls, which is likely to see a triangular fight. A five-time MP from Saharanpur in Western Uttar Pradesh, Masood belongs to the Samajwadi Party.
UPA’s V-P candidate
The UPA-Left candidate for the vice-presidential poll will be decided after the presidential election on July 19. Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunshi informed this to the press on Monday.
However, the issue is expected to be informally discussed during the dinner being hosted for all the UPA and supporting parties’ MPs in honour of UPA-Left Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil on Tuesday.
Mr Dasmunshi added that the methodology applied while choosing the presidential candidate, of developing a consensus among all the UPA and supporting parties, would be followed while choosing the vice-presidential candidate.
He indicated that instead of the Congress, it would be the four Left parties who would first decide on a suitable candidate before the issue was discussed at the overall UPA-Left forum.