Amit Shah Defers Travel To Focus On President Election With BJP, Allies

New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah has postponed his visit to Arunachal Pradesh due to start today and the party is likely to defer its national executive meeting scheduled for July 15-16 as it works to finalise a candidate for the Presidential election. Mr Shah is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior leaders to discuss president election.

Mr Shah's presence in the capital is required as the BJP is likely to begin the process of finalising the name of its presidential nominee any time now, a party leader was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

The election to the top constitutional post will be held on July 17. The last date for filing nomination is June 28. There could be a meeting of senior party leaders here, the leader told PTI, giving the reason for postponing Mr Shah's Arunachal Pradesh trip.

If the opposition too puts up a candidate, which is very likely considering the ongoing talks among top leaders of the Congress, the Left, Janata Dal (United), among others, a contest will be inevitable.

The BJP leader said there was no point in keeping the national executive meeting scheduled for July 15-16 in Andhra Pradesh, as the presidential election is scheduled for July 17.

He noted that the executive meeting was fixed long before the Election Commission announced the presidential poll schedule.

The Election Commission had on June 7 announced the schedule for the presidential poll.

The nomination process will begin from June 14 with the issuance of a notification and the counting of votes will take place on July 20 in New Delhi.

The electorate, comprising elected Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members and members of state assemblies, is tilted in favour of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, but the opposition is trying to woo regional parties to support their candidate.

(With inputs from PTI)