Presidential elections: Sharad Pawar holds meeting with Oppn; Yashwant Sinha to visit J&K

Ahead of the Presidential elections, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar held a meeting with the opposition parties at his Delhi residence to discuss the upcoming polls. Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge and the presidential candidate of the opposition Yashwant Sinha were also present at the meeting. Meanwhile, Yashwant Sinha is likely to visit Jammu & Kashmir on July 9 to garner support for his candidature. 

The NCP chief tweeted:

Meanwhile, BJP-led NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to visit Meghalaya on Wednesday to seek the support of ruling MLAs. 

Presidential election 

As the term of President Ram Nath Kovind is ending on July 24, an election to fill this impending vacancy will be held on July 18. The President will be elected by the electoral college consisting of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies through a secret ballot.

However, the nominated MPs and MLCs of various states are not eligible to participate in this election. The total value of the votes of electors is 10,86,431. While the last date for filing nomination papers was June 29, counting of votes shall take place on July 21. The candidates are required to submit over Rs 15,000 as a deposit and then submit a signed list of 50 proposers and 50 seconders.

For the post of the 15th President of the country, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu and joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha filed their nomination on June 24 and June 27 respectively in the presence of top dignitaries.