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Presidential poll: Sonia, Yechury, Pawar accompany Meira Kumar as she files nomination
Kumar’s competitor, NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind had filed his nomination last week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for his foreign tour.
New Delhi: Opposition candidate Meira Kumar filed her nomination for the Presidential election on Wednesday, the last date for submitting the papers.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and other senior Opposition leaders were present when Kumar handed over the papers to Anoop Mishra, Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, who is the returning officer of this prestigious election.
Kumar’s competitor, NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind had filed his nomination last week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for his foreign tour.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kumar said at a press conference that the upcoming presidential election was not a fight of Castes but a battle of ideology.
Both Kumar and Kovind are Dalit leaders. Kumar was the first woman speaker of the Lok Sabha while Kovind is the former governor of Bihar, her home state.
Even as the numbers are heavily tilted in favour of Kovind, Kumar refused to concede defeat. When asked if she is the losing candidate, Kumar hit back: “Why are you calling it a losing battle? I’m fighting and I might as well fight.”
“How can you predict the results of an election,” she retorted, adding that she will seek support from all parties including the allies of the BJP.
Kumar will start her campaign from Sabarmati and is expected to tour different states to seek votes.
The NDA, backed by parties like AIADMK, BJD, JD(U), TRS and YRS Congress have secured 682722 out of 10,98,903 votes in the electoral college.
Kumar has an uphill task as the Opposition has just 378458 votes, far short of the majority mark of 5,49,452.
