Presidential polls: Sharad Pawar opts out of race, Mamata proposes names of Farooq Abdullah & Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Opposition leaders, who met in the national capital on Wednesday announced that they have decided to field a consensus candidate for the presidential poll scheduled to be held on 18 July.

They will be holding their next meeting on 21 June.

“Several parties were here today. We’ve decided we will choose only one consensus candidate. Everybody will give this candidate our support. We will consult with others. This is a good beginning. We sat together after several months, and we will do it again,” TMC leader Mamata Banerjee said after the meeting.

“Opposition leaders adopted a resolution to field a common candidate in the forthcoming Presidential poll. A candidate who can truly serve as custodian of the Constitution and stop Modi govt from doing further damage to Indian democracy and India’s social fabric,” Sudheendra Kulkarni. Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party also did not participate in the meeting.

CPI MP Binoy Viswam who participated in the meeting said that Mamata Banarjee had proposed NCP’s Sharad Pawar’s name as the Presidential candidate of the Opposition. Pawar did not accept that proposal.

I sincerely appreciate the leaders of opposition parties for suggesting my name as a candidate for the election of the President of India, at the meeting held in Delhi. However I like to state that I have humbly declined the proposal of my candidature. pic.twitter.com/j9lTFFJMUX

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) June 15, 2022

Leaders of 17 political parties joined a crucial meeting of opposition parties convened by Mamata Banerjee to build consensus on fielding a joint candidate against the NDA in the presidential election here.

TMC, Congress, CPI, CPI(M), CPIML, RSP, Shiv Sena, NCP, RJD, SP, National Conference, PDP, JD(S), DMK, RLD, IUML and JMM - participated in the meeting held at the Constitution Club of India here.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) led by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao did not send a representative to the meeting convened by Mamata Banerjee and aimed at forging a consensus for an opposition-backed candidate.

Mamata proposes names of Farooq Abdullah, Gopalkrishna Gandhi

According to reports, Banerjee has proposed the names of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

However, Gandhi has said that it's "too premature" to comment on his candidature. He was the consensus opposition candidate for the post of Vice President of India in 2017 but had lost to M Venkaiah Naidu in the election.

The presidential election is slated to be held on July 18 and votes will be counted on July 21.

With inputs from agencies

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