Presidential poll: Ram Nath Kovind to file nomination today in PM Modi’s presence

A group of Opposition parties announced Meira Kumar as their joint candidate against Kovind.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior ministers will accompany NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind when he submits his nomination papers for the presidency around noon on Friday.

NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind arrives at the Parliament complex to file his nomination.(HT Photo/Vipin Kumar)

Kovind’s nomination will be filed in the office of Anoop Mishra. As the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, Mishra is charged with being the returning officer of presidential elections.

Kovind is likely to file his nomination between 11:45 am to 12:30 pm, sources in the Lok Sabha secretariat told HT.

The last date of filing is on June 28, but Kovind is going ahead early. Modi is leaving India on Saturday to visit Portugal, the United States and the Netherlands.

Following the filing of his nomination, Ram Nath Kovind will travel across India to meet chief ministers of different states to seek support. He is also likely to make appeals to lawmakers. He is pitted in the election, which is planned for next month, against the former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who has been fielded by the Congress and 16 other opposition parties.

Kovind will leave no stone unturned in reaching out to different parties, but the ruling NDA has already secured a comfortable majority.

Backed by parties like AIADMK, BJD, JD(U), TRS and YRS Congress, the NDA has secured 682,722 out of 10,98,903 votes in the electoral college.

Kumar has an uphill task: the Opposition has just 378458 votes, far short of the majority mark of 5,49,452.