Naidu Has Backing Of 485 of 788 Electoral College Members

NDA candidate M Venkaiah Naidu so far enjoys committed support of 485 of the 788 members of the electoral college that will choose the next vice president on August 5, election managers of the former Union minister said.

With more than 60 per cent of the votes likely go in his favour, Naidu is set for an impressive win over joint opposition nominee Gopal Krishna Gandhi. Sources in the BJP said they are confident about getting more support as the polling day approaches.

Though the electoral college's strength is 790, two members-- Vinod Khanna and Anil Madhav Dave--both of the BJP, passed away recently.

The members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha constitute the electoral college that elects the vice president. The NDA's strength in the 544-member Lok Sabha (reduced by one following the demise of Vinod Khanna) is 337, while it has 77 MPs out of the total 244 in the Upper House. Three non-NDA parties- the AIADMK, TRS and YSR Congress- have also announced their support to Naidu, taking the number of lawmakers backing him up by 54 in the Lok Sabha and 17 in Rajya Sabha. In the NDA, the BJP's current strength is 281 in the Lower House followed by 18, 16, six and four of the Shiv Sena, TDP, LJP and SAD.

In the Rajya Sabha, the saffron party's strength is 56 followed by six of TDP, and three each of Shiv Sena and SAD.