NDA backed presidential candidate, former speaker P A Sangma is very confident to win in the presidential election, even though UPA's candidate finance minister Pranab Mukherjee emerging as a possible winner.

Speaking to the media, Sangma said that he is very much confident to emerge as the winner and added "I've never lost any election. In fact my winning margin has increased with every election." When questioned whether he was just fighting a token election with a clear winner, Sangma said the fight wasn't a token fight, it was serious. "The Presidential election is not at all a token fight, it's a serious fight. The split within the NDA and other parties indicates that it's a serious election," Sangma said. Speaking about the NDA split, Sangma said, "Even Pranab hasn't got the entire UPA's support." A beaming Sangma said he was confident of winning the election as the voting takes place through secret ballot. "The voting takes place through secret ballot, so the question of numbers doesn't arise at the moment. I am confident of conscious votes."

After almost a week long deliberations, the BJP on Thursday decided to support the candidature of PA Sangma. Its ally Shiromani Akali Dal also decided on the same lines. But two of the most crucial allies of the BJP – the Shiv Sena and the Janata Dal United (JD-U) – took a call to go against it and back Pranab Mukherjee. On the other hand, the Left in its meeting failed to reach a consensus on the issue. While the CPM chose to back Pranab, the CPI decided against going with either of the candidates and to abstain from voting. Sangma, a senior NCP leader who was earlier in Congress, chose to defy his party's appeal to withdraw from the race and resigned from the party instead. Incidentally, his daughter Agatha Sangma, who is also a member of parliament, is still continuing in NCP.