India

Presidential Elections 2017 : Ram Nath Kovind files nomination

Presidential Elections 2017 : Ram Nath Kovind files nomination

India shall see her the election of her 14th President in the coming days. Hon’be President Pranab Mukherjee shall leave his post on 24th July, and the election for this successor will take place on the 17th.

In latest development Ram Nath Kovind filed his nomination for President of India’s election today.

Earlier Meira Kumar was fielded by NDA’s opposition parties as an Indian presidential candidate for 2017 elections. She is likely to file nomination by 27 or 28th.

Ram Nath Kovind went to Atal Behari Vajpayee’s residence to seek former prime minister’s blessings. Atal’s image was of uncorrupted leader who was even admired by his opposition.

He also met Shri L.K. Advani today, a BJP veteran, whose political limelight and clout diminished soon after Narendra Modi’s appointment as Prime Minister of India.

The country follows the electoral college system, which gives the power to MPs and MLAs of different parties to elect the next president. Every MP has a vote value of 708, but the value for the votes of the MLAs vary from state to state, depending on population. It is to be noted that the parliament has only 776 voters (Rajya Sabha 233 and Lok Sabha 543) while the biggest section of voters shall be the MLAs comprising 4120 voters.

1. The ruling NDA has already announced it’s candidate in the form of Ram Nath Kovind, who has served before as the Governor of Bihar. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar and his JD-U MLAs have already announced their support for Kovind. Now it remains to be seen who the opposition chooses as their leader.

2. Congress led UPA has announced former Loksabha Speaker Meira Kumar as their candidate for Presidency. Others in the race were Sushil Kumar Shinde and the grandson of Dalit icon Baba Saheb B. R. Ambedkar, Prakash Ambedkar. The decision was taken today in a meeting of opposition attended by leaders of 16 parties.

3. The decision of selecting Kovind as the candidate has sent the opposition in a fix as UPA is now putting in all the efforts to mend the cracks appeared. JD-U has already taken out support, while leaders like Mayawati have also expressed their concern over blocking the way of a senior Dalit leader (Kovind) to the top most position of the country.

However it is to be noted that the ruling NDA already has over 60 per cent of the vote with the support of several regional parties including both fractions of AIADMK, but Congress led Opposition has emphasised the importance of an election saying it will symbolise “a battle of ideologies”.

About the author

Shruti Bhatt

Shruti Bhatt is an engineering graduate, consumed with her passions day in and day out. An avid moviemaniac, a foodie, a bibliophile, and coffee-fashion-music enthusiast, Ms. Bhatt is on the way of becoming a raconteur - the word she is most fascinated with.