'We have an advantage': Trump raises prospect of US election going to Congress

US President Donald Trump on September 26 said that he has an advantage if Congress were to decide the election in November. Trump, while addressing a rally at the Harrisburg airport, denounced the mail-in-voting yet again and said that he would have an advantage if the election goes to Congress. "I don’t want to end up in the Supreme Court and I don’t want to go back to Congress either, even though we have an advantage when we go back to Congress," Bloomberg quoted Trump as saying. 

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When no candidate secures an absolute majority in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives, which is the lower house of the US parliament (Congress), elects the President as per the constitution of the United States. This procedure is called the Contingent election. The Republicans at the moment have 26 seats in the House, while the Democrats control 22, with two seats split evenly between the parties. 

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However, Trump is wrong in saying that he will win the election if it goes to Congress because in case of a disputed result the vote will go to the House in January after the new Congress is seated, which means that the numbers could or will change by then. Contingent elections in the United States have occurred only three times in its history, all in the 1800s.

Trump recently nominated conservative judge Amy Comey Barrett to replace Late liberal judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Supreme Court. Trump is seeking a vote in the Senate before the upcoming poll to secure a conservative majority in the top court.

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Trump vs Biden

Donald Trump is pitted against the former vice-president Joe Biden, who according to most exit polls is enjoying a lead over the president. Trump is facing a lot of criticism for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 2,00,000 Americans to date, way more than the fatalities of the 9/11 attacks, Iraq and Vietnam wars combined. The Trump administration is also witnessing one of the largest anti-racism protests the country has ever since. 

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(Image Credit: AP)