Trump secures most unbound delegates in Pennsylvania

Washington, Apr 28: Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has secured a vast majority of unbound delegates from Pennsylvania, thus bringing him closer to a monumental duel with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for the White House.

Of the 54 available free-agent delegates in the state, 39 of them have said that they will support Trump on the first ballot of the Republican convention, media reports said yesterday.

Trump won the Pennsylvania GOP primary in a big way by gaining 56. 7 per cent of the total votes polled.

However as per party rules, he got only 17 of the party delegates from the States while the rest 54 were unbound delegates, meaning they can vote for any candidate they want in the Republican party's convention in July in Cleveland. Soon after his victory, Trump argued that the unbound delegates had moral obligation to vote for at the convention in the first ballot respecting the mandate of the people of the State.

Yesterday after unveiling his foreign policy vision in Washington DC, Trump shifted his focus to Indiana where the crucial primaries are scheduled for May 3, where 57 delegate are at stake in a winner take all election.

Now with 987 delegates in his kitty, Trump now needs just 250 delegates to win the party's presidential nomination. His nearest rival Senator Ted Cruz is more than 400 votes below him. Primary elections are yet to be held in 10 more States, with California (172 delegates) being the biggest catch. Trump is leading by considerable margin in California, as per the latest opinion polls.

On Tuesday Trump had declared himself as presumptive nominee. "I consider myself the presumptive nominee, absolutely. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. These two guys can't win, there's no path," he said. Trump defended his remarks against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, that she is only performing well because "she is a woman".

"It's not sexist. It's true. If she were a man, she'd get less than 5 per cent," Trump told ABC News. "She's a bad candidate. She's a flawed candidate that frankly … is not going to do very well in the election, and I look forward to showing that," he said. Clinton Campaign hit back at Trump for such remarks.

"Hillary Clinton has won more than 12 million votes --that's 2 million more than Trump -- because she has the best vision for this country, the chops to get the job done, and an incredible team fighting alongside her," deputy communications director of 'Hillary for America' Christiana Reynolds said.

PTI