BJP vs who? The contest for India's First Citizen, and what it entails

As preparations begin to elect a new president of India (a new president must in place by July), all parties are assessing their positions vis-a-vis the dominant alliances — the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

The electoral college for the presidential election comprises MPs from both Houses of Parliament and MLAs from all Assemblies. The votes of the MPs are worth more than those of MLAs. While each MP’s vote has a value of 708, the votes of the MLAs from different states have different values, based on their population (in accordance with the 1971 census)