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‘With great humility…’: Margaret Alva, Opposition's vice-president pick
Margaret Alva, 80, would file her nomination papers on July 19 which is the last date for filing nominations for the August 6 election.
Former Rajasthan governor Margaret Alva on Sunday said she has accepted the Opposition's decision to nominate her as its joint candidate for the vice-presidential election. Alva also thanked the leaders of the Opposition for showing faith in her.
“It is a privilege and an honour to be nominated as the candidate of the joint opposition for the post of Vice President of India. I accept this nomination with great humility and thank the leaders of the opposition for the faith they’ve put in me. Jai Hind,” she tweeted.
Alva, 80, would file her nomination papers on July 19 which is the last date for filing nominations for the August 6 election. The NDA has fielded West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as its joint candidate for the post of vice-president.
The decision to field Alva was taken at a meeting of opposition leaders of 17 parties at the residence of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar.
Also Read | Who is Margaret Alva, the opposition candidate for vice-presidential polls?
"We have unanimously decided to field Margaret Alva as our joint candidate for the post of Vice President," Pawar announced after the two-hour meeting.
"Our collective thinking is Alva will file VP nomination on Tuesday," he added.
He said a total of 17 parties have unanimously taken the decision to field her and with the support of Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, she will be the joint candidate of a total of 19 parties.
"We are trying to contact Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal. Last time they supported our joint presidential candidate," he said, adding that even JMM is together with opposition parties in this election.
Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut said, "We are all together in this election".
Among the attendees were Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja and Binoy Viswam, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, DMK's T R Baalu and Tiruchi Siva, SP's Ram Gopal Yadav, MDMK's Vaiko and TRS' K Keshava Rao.
The RJD's A D Singh, IMUL's E T Mohammed Basheer and Kerala Congress (M)'s Jose K. Mani were also present.
The numbers in the electoral college are firmly stacked in favour of the ruling NDA combine.
(With inputs from agencies)
