In the presidential election scheduled for July 18, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced today that it will back Yashwant Sinha, the nominee of the united opposition. The declaration was made by Aam Aadmi Party MP for Rajya Sabha Sanjay Singh. “We respect Droupadi Murmu but the AAP will support the opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha,” Singh said.
“AAP will support Opposition’s Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha. We respect Droupadi Murmu but we will vote for Yashwant Sinha,” says AAP MP Sanjay Singh
— ANI (@ANI) July 16, 2022
(File photo) pic.twitter.com/ESnHxtAN7s
The decision was made during a PAC meeting presided over by the party’s national convenor, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Senior party leaders such as Depuy CM Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, Atishi, Durgesh Pathak, Punjab MP Raghav Chadha, and others attended the meeting.
The Aam Aadmi Party has 156 MLAs in total, including 92 in Punjab, 62 in Delhi, and two in Goa. It has ten Rajya Sabha MPs from the two states, three of whom are from Delhi.
The presidential election will be held on Monday, and the results will be declared on July 21.
After NCP President Sharad Pawar, former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah dropped out, Yashwant Sinha emerged as the consensus presidential candidate of opposition parties, including the Congress. He is running against Draupadi Murmu, the National Democratic Alliance candidate picked by the BJP.
On June 21, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) named former Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu as their Presidential candidate for the July 18, 2022 elections. Murmu has a political career spanning over 20 years. She was born on June 20, 1958, in the village of Uparbeda, district Mayurbhanj, to a Santal Tribal family. Murmu will be India’s first tribal woman president if she is elected.
Yashwant Sinha has now secured the support of Congress, NCP, TMC, SP, National Conference, CPI, CPI-M, AIMIM, RJD, AAP and AIUDF among others. But Draupadi Murmu is set to win the elections, as she has the support of more voters. Apart from the votes of NDA parties, she will also get votes from several other parties. The NDA candidate has already received support from several non-NDA parties, including BJD, YSR-CP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JDS and Shiromani Akali Dal, and this have ensured over 60% vote share for her. Apart from these supports, cross voting from other non-NDA parties is also expected, especially from SC and ST lawmakers.
