New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday appointed its president JP Nadda and Union minister Rajnath Singh to hold consultation with various political parties including those in the Opposition over presidential elections, reported news agency PTI.
The practice by the saffron party is being seen as outreach by the ruling party to arrive at a consensus on the choice for the top constitutional post, as per the report.
In a statement, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the two senior leaders will talk to both ruling NDA and opposition UPA constituents, besides other political parties as well as independent members.
The party said that the two leaders will soon hold consultations with other parties.
The move comes after the Opposition parties had levelled allegations against BJP during the last presidential election in 2017 that they were reached out by the party only at the last moment after it had already finalised the choice of Ram Nath Kovind, who went on to become the president.
The opposition had forced a contest by backing Meira Kumar, who lost to Kovind.
The presidential polls, if necessary, will be held on July 18 and the votes will be counted on July 21.
The term of President Ram Nath Kovind will come to an end on July 24, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had said during a press conference while announcing dates for the presidential polls.
The CEC had further said that the polling will be done through a secret ballot and the MPs and MLAs voting in the polls will be given a pen by the Commission to mark their votes. Use of any other pen by any voter will render the vote invalid.