Presidential Election 2017: Meira Kumar to file papers on Wednesday, last day for nomination

New Delhi: The filing of nominations for the 17 July presidential election ends on Wednesday with 64 papers, including those of NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind, being filed so far. [caption id=“attachment_3748225” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Meira Kumar. Reuters[/caption] Opposition nominee Meira Kumar is set to file her papers on Wednesday morning at the Parliament House in the presence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and other Opposition leaders, including Sitaram Yechury (CPM) and Derek O’Brien (TMC). Though 64 papers have been filed so far, the number of actual candidates is much less at 57 as some of them have filed multiple nominations. One candidate can file a maximum of four nominations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were the prominent leaders who had proposed former Bihar governor Kovind’s name in the nomination papers. Several Union ministers and MLAs had seconded the proposal on 23 June. Some nomination papers were rejected on the spot by the returning officer as they did not have the mandatory Rs 15,000 security deposit and a certificate that the candidate was a valid voter of any of the Lok Sabha constituencies. Except Kovind’s and Kumar’s, the other papers are set to be rejected on 29 June during scrutiny as they lack the names of 50 proposers and as many seconders. The elected members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and state legislative Assemblies can propose and second a candidate as they are the ones who elect the president through the system of proportional representation. A Patel couple from Mumbai, who filed their nomination papers for the presidential poll on 14 June, would like to share the two top constitutional posts of the country between them. Saira Bano Mohammed Patel and Mohammed Patel Abdul Hamid from Mumbai told the returning officer that it would be “good” if one of them became the president and the other the vice-president. K Padmarajan from Salem, Tamil Nadu is among those who have filed nominations for the presidential election. Known as the ’election king’, he has contested over 150 polls.