New Delhi: The Opposition has fielded former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Yashwant Sinha as its unanimous and common candidate for the next Presidential elections on 18 July.
Earlier in the day, the former TMC national vice president declared he was “stepping aside” from the party “to work for greater opposition unity”, signalling his likely nomination to the post.
Several Opposition parties met in the capital Tuesday to finalise their candidate for the presidential election next month.
The Opposition’s previous three candidates — Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and Gopal Krishna Gandhi — had declined to contest.
Congress’ Jairam Ramesh appealed to all parties to vote for Sinha, a former Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA government.
On March 13, 2021, ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections, an upset Yashwant Sinha quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata.
On 15 June, 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 the Modi government from doing further damage to Indian democracy and India’s social fabric,” said leader Sudheendra Kulkarni.
In a comfortable position to get its candidate elected, the BJP will also finalise its contender soon. The party has already formed a 14-member management team to oversee the election. Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is the convenor of this team.
The President is elected by members of an electoral college consisting of all elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and elected members of state assemblies and the Union Territories of Delhi and Pondicherry.
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