The Left parties, which hold the key to United Progressive Alliance's success in the Presidential election, appeared to be pushing for their own candidate for the polls.

The four parties, which met in Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the election, seemed confident that crucial parties like Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and others would support their candidate for which they would also seek the UPA's help.

At a press conference after the hour-long meeting, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat did not disclose the Left's strategy, saying they had only finalised the criteria which should be fulfilled by the presidential candidate. No names were finalised, he maintained.

The candidate to be "put up by all of us should be a person of political stature, should have requisite political background and experience to fulfil the responsibilities under the Constitution, create a balance between Executive, Judiciary and Legislature and have an integral knowledge of the functioning of the political system," he said.

He said the nominee should also be "strongly secular to uphold the secular principles of the Indian state."

On the basis of these criteria, the Left parties have already held a round of consultations with Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nationalist Congress Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and other parties both "within the UPA and outside."

"We have reached a common ground on the selection of candidate and it is possible that it will be finalised in the next few days," Karat said in the presence of the top leaders of Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc.

Asked whether Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would be put up by the Left, Karat said, "We did not discuss any name. The criteria that we have finalised has to be fulfilled by the candidate."

However, the Left's criteria which speaks of a person with secular credentials, political stature, knowledge about the functioning of the political system and creating a balance between the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, appeared to fit Chatterjee, political observers said.

Karat, flanked by A B Bardhan and D Raja (CPI), Debabrata Biswas and G Devarajan (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (RSP), said strong secular credentials of a President was essential in view of the present scenario.

He said it had become important after the Babri Masjid demolition, which was soon followed by the 1992 presidential polls.

To questions regarding names floated by Congress and other parties, the CPI-M leader said, "Various names are being discussed by all parties. We will continue to discuss them and hope to come to a conclusion in the next few days."

Bardhan said the names should not be bandied about as this was a very high post.

Besides Congress and UPA partners, sources said the Left parties had held discussions with leaders of several other parties including Telugu Desam Party, Asom Gana Parishad, INLD and BSP.

"We have held discussions with all secular parties, except the SP," the sources said.

These parties, the sources said, would soon finalise their strategy and it was clear that SP and TDP would not support either a Congress or a BJP candidate.