Modi, Shah to be present when Kovind files nomination on Friday

NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind will file his nomination papers for the July 17 presidential election on Friday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states.

"Ram Nath Kovind will file his nomination at Parliament House at 11.45 a.m," the Lok Sabha Secretariat said in a statement here on Thursday.

BJP sources said four sets of nomination papers have been prepared and each will be signed by Modi, Shah, Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, and former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Kovind is all set to sail through the July 17 presidential election by a comfortable margin even though a contest is set, as the opposition parties on Thursday named former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as their nominee for the top constitutional post.

The NDA, including Shiv Sena and the PDP of Jammu and Kashmir, commands the support of 48.93 per cent in the electoral college made up of MPs and MLAs.

With the backing of parties outside the alliance like TRS (2 per cent), AIADMK (5.39 per cent), YSR Congress (1.53 per cent) and BJD (2.99 per cent), the NDA's support would cross the half-way-mark comfortably to reach nearly 63 per cent in the July 17 contest, with JD-U contributing 1.91 per cent.

After JD-U's decision to back Kovind, the vote share of NDA in the electoral college goes up to almost 63 per cent of vote value of 10,98,903.

The counting of votes will take place on July 20. The term of President Pranab Mukherjee ends on July 24.

--IANS

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