Presidential Election: Here's How Meira vs Kovind Will Play Out on July 17

New Delhi: The presidential election race has shaped up into a Dalit vs Dalit battle between NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind and his challenger Meira Kumar. The nomination of Kumar, however, seems a symbolic gesture by opposition parties at this point as the numbers side with the NDA. Besides NDA constituents, which comprise over 48.6 percent of votes in the electoral college that will elect the next president, regional parties such as the AIADMK, BJD, TRS and JD(U) have also announced their support to the former Bihar governor Kovind, making his win a foregone conclusion on July 20 when the votes are counted.

Here’s how the two candidates stack up against each other:

SUPPORT FOR KOVIND BY VOTE SHARE

BJP — 40.03%

TDP — 2.82%

Shiv Sena — 2.34%

Akali Dal — 0.61%

LJP — 0.43%

PDP — 0.37%

RLSP — 0.24%

BPF — 0.19%

NPF — 0.16%

AGP — 0.15%

SDF — 0.14%

AD — 0.29%

NPP — 0.07%

AJSU — 0.08

SWP — 0.06%

RPI — 0.06%

SBSP — 0.07%

MGP — 0.005%

GFP — 0.005

HAM — 0.01%

AIADMK — 5.36%

BJD — 2.98%

TRS — 1.99%

JD(U) — 1.89%

YSRCP — 1.53%

TOTAL — 61.88%

SUPPORT FOR MEIRA KUMAR BY VOTE SHARE

Congress — 14.62%

TMC — 5.78%

Samajwadi Party — 2.36%

CPM — 2.45%

BSP — 0.74%

RJD — 1.7%

DMK — 1.66%

NCP — 1.44%

JD(S) — 0.71%

JMM — 0.46%

CPI — 0.43%

IUML — 0.39%

AUDF — 0.33%

AIMIM — 0.19%

JVM — 0.03%

RLD — 0.02%

RSP — 0.06%

JKNC — 0.16%

AIFB — 0.03%

CPI(ML) — 0.02%

TOTAL — 33.58%

It looks like a walk in the park for Kovind when voting takes place on July 17, but the changing political equations till then will be interesting to watch. RJD chief Lalu Prasad is already lobbying Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to re-think support for Kovind.