Aware of its chances in the 17 July presidential election, the opposition now views it as an ideological battle. Kumar on the other hand has 3,76,261 committed votes, which is 34% and one-third of the total collegium vote. The total vote value comes to 10,98,903. In the 2012 elections, Congress led UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee garnered 7,13,763 votes which was 69.31% of the total collegium vote. UPA’s candidate Pratibha Patil had in the 2007 election secured 6,38,116 votes, polling 65.82% of the total electoral college vote.

Source: Mint June 25, 2017 10:41 UTC