Oppn wanted to give a fight to BJP's Presidential candidate, says CPM veteran Hannan Mollah

Amid the ongoing counting of votes for a new President, CPM Politburo member Hannan Mollah said that the only intention of the opposition parties to put a candidate was to mark a protest against BJP's ideology and thinking.

New Delhi: Former MP and CPM Politburo member Hannan Mollah on Thursday said that the opposition has put up its candidate in the Presidential election just to give a fight to the BJP and restrict the party from getting a walkover.

"We knew that opposition can't defeat BJP candidate. We put our candidate just to give a fight to the BJP," said Mollah to ETV Bharat. After the first round of counting of the Presidential election, BJP's Droupadi Murmu got 540 votes with a total value of 3,78,000 whereas the opposition's Yashwant Sinha secured 208 votes with a total vote value of 1,45,600. The total number of valid votes for the election of India's 15th President was 748 with a total value of valid votes 5,23,600. "Our candidate was also aware of the probable election result. He knew the numbers and strength of MPs and MLAs on the opposition side," said Mollah.

Mollah said that the only intention of the opposition parties was to mark a protest against BJP's ideology and thinking. "This party (BJP) has been trying to destroy the people's rights and Constitution. It was necessary to put a joint candidate representing the opposition parties," said Mollah. As compared to 15 MPs' votes being found invalid in the Presidential poll in 2022, as many as 21 votes were found invalid in the 2017 Presidential poll and 15 votes were found invalid in 2012 polls.