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Race for Raisina Hill on, Pranab, Sangma
file nominations
Friday June 29, 2012 12:17:46 AM,
IANS
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P.A Sangma filing the nomination
papers for the Presidential Election, at Parliament, in New
Delhi on June 28, 2012. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Mrs
Sushma Swaraj and other dignitaries are also seen. |
New Delhi:
The race to elect India's 13th president formally began Thursday
with both UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee and his rival Purno Sangma
filing their nominations for the July 19 contest.
The result will be out July 22.
While Mukherjee sought the "blessing of god and cooperation of
all" to get elected, Sangma termed his candidature "a victory of
tribal unity."
Both Mukherjee and Sangma said they will start their campaign
Saturday, and expressed the hope that the mercurial Mamata
Banerjee would rally on their side.
While opposed to Mukherjee, Banerjee has still not supported
Sangma.
"I only wish at this time that we have the blessing of god and
cooperation of all at this juncture," Mukherjee told reporters.
He thanked the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Shiv Sena for their support.
"I was fortunate, honoured and humbled to be nominated by UPA. The
nomination was endorsed by a large number of political parties. I
seek support of all those, including Trinamool, who have not yet
decided," Mukherjee said.
He clarified that it was the 14th presidential election to elect
the 13th president of the country as the first president, Rajendra
Prasad, was elected twice to the country's highest office.
The nominations became an opportunity for the ruling United
Progressive Alliance and the opposition to show their strength.
Mukherjee was accompanied by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary Rahul
Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya
Janata Dal's Lalu Prasad, Rashtriya Lok Dal's Ajit Singh, Lok
Janshakti Party's Ram Vilas Paswan, National Conference's Farooq
Abdullah, Indian Union Muslim League's E. Ahmed and senior DMK
leaders.
Supporting Sangma, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Punjab
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Goa Chief Minister Manohar
Parrikar, BJP president Nitin Gadkari and party leaders L.K.
Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were present during his
nomination.
"Today is a victory of tribal unity, that a tribal is filing his
nomination for the post of president," Sangma said ahead of
submitting his papers.
Sangma clarified he was a candidate sponsored by the Tribal Forum
of India, nominated by the chief ministers of Odisha and Tamil
Nadu and backed by BJP and other NDA allies.
"I am very happy to get the support of such political parties --
from tribal to that of northeast. It is insignificant where I am
coming from," said Sangma after filing his nomination.
Sangma lamented that the Congress did not welcome the candidature
of a tribal for the post of president despite the community having
stood by the party.
"We wanted to express that tribals in India have all along stood
by the Congress. We had expected Congress would welcome our
request. However, the Congress did not come out in support of
tribals," he said.
"We sought an appointment to meet Congress president (Sonia
Gandhi). We were asked to wait in the Central Hall (of parliament)
consecutively for three days. But we could not get an
appointment."
Before filing his nomination, Sangma added a bit of colour to his
campaign by joining a group of tribal dancers who performed at the
Constitution Club and played the drums to express their happiness.
Rajya Sabha secretary general V.K. Agnihotri is the returning
officer for the July 19 presidential poll, in which the UPA
nominee appears to have an edge over Sangma.
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