Pranab will win, claims UPA

New Delhi, July 17 (IANS) Two days ahead of the presidential poll, the UPA Tuesday claimed its nominee Pranab Mukherjee will win comfortably with Mamata Banerjee also extending her support even if grudgingly.

"Pranab will win comfortably," said a UPA minister who did not want to be named.

Both Mukherjee and his rival P.A. Sangma had been wooing the Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister.

According to government sources, Mukherjee has around 7 lakh 35 thousand votes against Sangma's 3 lakh and 13 thousand, of the total 10 lakh and 97 thousand votes in the electoral college of MPs and state legislators.

Besides UPA members Congress, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, DMK and National Conference, the parties supporting it like Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party are also for Mukherjee.

While the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Forward Bloc will vote for Mukherjee, the Janata Dal-United and Shiv Sena from the National Democratic Alliance are also backing him.

Those likely to abstain are Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Telugu Desam Party and Telangana Rashtriya Samithi. These parties have around 36,000 votes.

Then there are around 32,000 votes with smaller parties who have no presence in parliament but have legislators in states.

Government sources claimed Tuesday that a majority of these parties were likely to support the UPA.

Sangma is supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK, Akali Dal and Asom Gana Parishad.