Presidential Election 2017: Three holidays before 23 June deadline for filing candidate nominations

New Delhi: With three holidays coming ahead of the 28 June deadline for filing of nominations in the presidential election, major political parties, including the ruling NDA, are expected to file the papers of their respective nominees by 23 June. [caption id=“attachment_3713983” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ram Nath Kovind. PTI[/caption] The Lok Sabha Secretariat said in a release that nominations cannot be filed on 24 and 25 June because of public holidays — they being Saturday and Sunday, respectively — and also on 26 June, which will be a holiday on account of Eid subject to the visibility of moon. In view of these holidays and the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be leaving on a three-nation tour of Portugal, the United States and the Netherlands from 24-27 June, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind is expected to file his nomination on 23 June. This was as much indicated by BJP president Amit Shah at a press conference where he announced Kovind’s name as NDA’s presidential nominee. The last day for filing nomination papers is on 28 June. Scrutiny is on 29 June and the last date for withdrawal is 1 July. Polling, if necessary, will be held on 17 July and vote counting will be on 20 July. The tenure of President Pranab Mukherjee ends on 24 July.