Update on the Presidential polls. The CPI(M), which wants the President to be elected on the basis of "widest acceptability", today asked Congress and UPA not to delay any further the selection of their candidate for the top
constitutional post. 

"The more the delay, more names will be floated. It will be unfair to drag the names of people of repute into speculation. So, sooner it is (UPA decides on a name), the better," senior party leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters, just before NCP leader P A Sangma met CPI(M) General Secretary
Prakash Karat to drum up support for his Presidential ambitions.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh says he wants a political person as the president. Mulayam said he met Jayalalithaa over the issue, but refused to divulge the details.