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Friday, Jul 13, 2007
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UPA’s figures for committed votes

Special Correspondent

“Pratibha has 6,31,464 votes”
NDA tally will be 3,14,411

NEW DELHI: In a bid to counter the National Democratic Alliance’s campaign suggesting that Presidential candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was just short of a few thousand votes, the United Progressive Alliance on Thursday released a detailed break-up of the committed votes for both sides.

As per the UPA’s last count, its candidate Pratibha Patil has 6,31,464 votes in an electoral college of 10,97,000 votes.

The NDA tally stands at 3,14,411. Those yet to make up their minds add up to 1,30,605 votes.

Releasing the figures, Ms. Patil’s official representative and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said, “Instead of approaching the smaller parties claiming that Mr. Shekhawat is close to winning the election, the NDA should come out with a similar detailed statement on the support he enjoys in the electoral college.”

The UPA tally was more than what the ruling combine started the Presidential campaign with.

Initially, its tally was 5,81,072 votes but subsequently the Shiv Sena and some others pledged support for Ms. Patil. The numbers were likely to go up, Mr. Dasmunsi said.

No denial from Shekhawat: Digvijay

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh countered Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani’s campaign against Ms. Patil and said that unlike silence on the part of Mr. Shekhawat, she had rebuffed allegations against her.

“There have been charges against Mr. Shekhawat in newspapers including alleged links with cocaine smugglers and his being a dismissed constable, none of which he has either denied or rebuffed.”

On the contrary, there were no direct charges against Ms. Patil, whose only crime was that “she is a woman and a candidate of the UPA”.

The allegations being levelled against her were nothing more than a compilation of newspaper articles, Mr. Singh said.

Freedom fighters’ appeal

In a related development, the Freedom Fighters’ Federation has issued an appeal to all members of Parliament and legislators to vote for Ms. Patil.

It said: “Ms. Patil’s public life during the past five decades presents a harmonious blend of qualities required of a President of the Indian Republic. We are confident that she would bring forth all her talent and experience in the discharge of her duties as Rashtrapati, and bring glory to the nation; adding much to the lustre of the high office.”

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