Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: Accompanied by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Opposition’s presidential election candidate Meira Kumar filed her nomination papers on Wednesday.
She is contesting against the ruling BJP party candidate Ram Nath Kovind in the July 17 elections. She filed her papers at 11.30 am.
Other political leaders present on the ocassion included CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI D Raja, Naresh Aggarwal of SP, BSP’s Satish Mishra, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Chief Ministers Amarinder Singh, Virbhadra Singh, V Narayanasamy, Siddharamaiah
The Election Commission had set set 28 July as the last date for filing of the nomination to the office of the President of India.
Polling will be held on July 17 in Parliament and all the state legislatures and the assemblies of Delhi and Puducherry and the votes will be counted on July 20.
President Pranab Mukherjee’s five year tenure ends on July 24.
Battle of Ideologies
Mrs Sonia Gandhi described the presidential election as a battle of ideologies and principles and said the opposition was determined to fight it.
“For us, it is a battle of ideologies, principles and truth and we will fight it,” she said after the opposition’s presidential candidate Meira Kumar filed her nomination in Parliament.
Notable Absentee
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was nowhere to be seen when Meira Kumar, was accompanied by veteran Opposition leaders to walk her into the office of Lok Sabha Secretary General Anoop Mishra to file the nomination papers.
A Congress leader noted, “This is not quite the time to stay away from action. This is the time to be around 24×7.”
Gandhi has again managed to give fodder to his critics who call him a part time politician.
Rahul Gandhi, who is abroad on a vacation tweeted that Kumar represented the values that bound the country and its people.
“Against the ideology of divisiveness she represents the values that bind us as a nation and people. Proud to have Meira Kumar ji as our candidate,” he tweeted.
