Yashwant Sinha files his nomination papers for presidential election
President Election: Yashwant Sinha, the joint Opposition's presidential candidate, on Monday filed his nomination papers. Sinha handed over four sets of nomination papers to Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody, who is the returning officer for the presidential election.
Sinha (84) was joined by top opposition leaders like NCP's Sharad Pawar, Congress' Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, DMK's A Raja and NC leader Farooq Abdullah were also present when Sinha submitted his nomination papers. No leader from Shiv Sena was present on the occasion. The party has, however, declared that it will support Sinha.
Sinha, who was part of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA cabinet, was named as the common opposition candidate for the presidential election on June 21. He had quit the BJP and joined the Trinamool Congress in 2021. Sinha quit the TMC after a few days before he was fielded by the opposition parties for the presidential election.
Scores of opposition parties, including the Congress, TMC and the Left, have come together to back Sinha who is facing a stiff challenge from BJP-led NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu, a tribal leader, who filed her nomination papers last week.
Sinha will launch his campaign on June 28 and is likely to start from Chennai in Tamil Nadu. He will cover the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka in the first round before moving to the north.
The presidential election would be held on July 18 to elect a successor to incumbent Ram Nath Kovind and the result would be out on July 21. Kovind's term will end on July 24.
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