NDA’s Vice-Presidential candidate Jaswant Singh has filed his nomination papers today in the presence of opposition leaders including L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav.
Singh, 74, whose candidature was declared by the NDA on 16 July, filed his nomination papers to Lok Sabha Secretary General T K Vishwanathan, who is the Returning Officer for the Vice-Presidential poll.
Jaswant Singh. Reuters
Three sets of papers- one each by L K Advani, Sumitra Mahajan and Yashwant Sinha- supporting Singh’s candidature were submitted to Vishwanathan, reported PTI. The papers were signed by leaders from the BJP as well as the NDA alliance partners.
Though UPA candidate Hamid Ansari is set to enter the history books as only the second person after S Radhakrishnan to get a second consecutive term as Vice President, NDA has decided to field Singh as it does not want to give the ruling coalition a walkover.
Singh, a former External Affairs, Finance and Defence Minister, has provided a semblance of seriousness to the contest. Moreover, NDA was keen on putting up a fight against Ansari as it is unhappy with his conduct of the Rajya Sabha on 29 December when he abruptly adjourned the House while the Lokpal Bill debate was on.
With inputs from PTI
