Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will support the joint Opposition’s candidate, Yashwant Sinha, in the upcoming elections for the President of India, the Hyderabad MP announced on Monday.
“AIMIM legislators will be voting for opposition candidate @YashwantSinha in the #PresidentialElections. Mr Sinha spoke to me on call earlier as well,” Owaisi wrote on Twitter.
Owaisi's announcement came on a day when the former Union minister filed his nomination for the contest to be elected to the country's highest constitutional office.
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{{/usCountry}}The AIMIM was not invited to the opposition's first round of talks to elect their presidential candidate, which took place in Delhi on June 15. However, for the second round, also held in the national capital, on June 21, the party was represented by its Lok Sabha MP Imtiaz Jaleel.
Sinha's candidature was announced immediately after the second round of talks.
Among the parties that did not attend or were not invited to either leg, Odisha's Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Andhra Pradesh's YSR Congress Party and Uttar Pradesh's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have said they will vote for Droupadi Murmu, the nominee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling National Drmocratic Alliance (NDA).
On the other hand, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has extended support to Sinha, while Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is yet to announce its decision.
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The polls to elect the country's 15th President will be held on July 18. The winner will succeed the incumbent, Ram Nath Kovind, as the country's First Citizen.