Yashwant Sinha speaks on being Oppn's 4th choice nominee for Prez polls: 'Would've accepted even if I was 10th'

Sinha's candidature was announced on June 21, after each of Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi ruled themselves out of the race.

Yashwant Sinha, who was announced as the Opposition's candidate to be the 15th President of India after each of their first three choices opted out, on Monday said he would have accepted the nomination even if he was the 10th choice.

Yashwant Sinha addressing media at New Delhi's Constitution Club. (ANI)

“I'm thankful to all the opposition parties who came together and chose me as their candidate. It's being said I'm the fourth choice but I want to say even if I was at the 10th number, I would've accepted because it's a big battle,” Sinha said, according to news agency ANI.

The former Union minister was addressing the media at the Constitution Club of India in the national capital, hours after filing his nomination for the July 18 presidential polls. For his nomination filing, the ex-diplomat was accompanied by Opposition bigwigs such as Sharad Pawar and Rahul Gandhi, among others.

Sinha, whose candidature was announced on June 21, was picked after veteran politician Pawar, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, and ex-Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi – Mahatma Gandhi's grandson – ruled themselves out of the contest.

Since his name was announced, the former BJP leader, who is a staunch critic of prime minister Narendra Modi, has repeatedly stressed that if he becomes President, he would do everything to stop the Modi government's ‘trampling’ of the Constitution.

Sinha will face Droupadi Murmu, the first-choice pick of the BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and the only name announced by it. The winner will succeed the incumbent First Citizen, Ram Nath Kovind.