Kovind to file nomination today, Meira Kumar oppn’s candidate

NEW DELHI: NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind will file his nomination papers on Friday, while the opposition today chose former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, a Dalit, as its candidate for presidential election.
The decision to declare Meira Kumar, a former diplomat and Lok Sabha Speaker, as candidate for the presidential election was taken unanimously by members of 17 political parties in a meeting today. The NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind will file his nomination papers in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and most BJP-led NDA chief ministers, besides the heads of some other parties supporting his candidature.
Besides the NDA’s constituents, which comprise over 48.6 per cent of votes in the electoral college that will elect the next president, regional parties such as the AIADMK, BJD, TRS and JD(U) have also announced their support to the Dalit leader, making his win an almost foregone conclusion.
BJP President Amit Shah will also be present when Kovind files his papers, as will the Telangana and Tamil Nadu chief ministers, two leaders from non-NDA parties supporting Kovind, sources in the southern parties said.
Kovind is guaranteed to get more than 61 per cent of the vote, and the finall tally may increase depending on how some still-undecided regional parties vote, BJP source said.
The election is scheduled for July 17 and the counting of votes will take place on July 20.
The term of President Pranab Mukherjee ends on July 24.
Once elected, Kovind will be the second Dalit to occupy the highest constitutional office. The first was K.R. Narayanan.
With the Opposition parties today announcing former Speaker Meira Kumar and daughter of the late Dalit icon Jagjivan Ram, as their joint candidate against Kovind, it makes it a Dalit vs Dalit presidential contest.
"We have decided to field the name of Meira Kumar for the presidential election... We do hope that other parties also join us," Congress president Sonia Gandhi said.
Her party colleague, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, said Kumar was a unanimous choice.
NCP leader Sharad Pawar proposed three names -- Kumar, former Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Rajya Sabha MP Bhalchandra Mungekar, both Dalits from Maharashtra.
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury put forward the names of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of B R Ambedkar.