Yogi Adityanath and Manohar Parrikar may have left national politics to be chief ministers but they are likely to resign from their parliamentary seats only after casting their votes in the presidential election.
With every vote important in the election for which the Opposition parties are working to close their ranks behind a common candidate, the BJP wants both the leaders to cast their votes in the poll before putting in their papers, party sources said.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, also a Lok Sabha member, will also resign following the election. The U.P. and Goa Chief Ministers besides Mr. Maurya have to be elected to the Legislature in their States within six months since they were sworn in, and the window is long enough for them to remain parliamentarians till the election in July.
They can contest elections to the State Legislature only after quitting as MPs.
Mr. Parrikar was sworn in on March 14 and Mr. Adityanath and Mr. Maurya on March 19.
The presidential election is due in July and the poll to the post of the vice-president is scheduled for August. The electoral college for picking the vice-president is clearly in the BJP-led NDA’s favour with the alliance having 418 members out of the total 787, the combined strength of both the Houses.
