Shekhawat to file nomination papers on June 25

New Delhi, June 24: The contest for India's highest costitutional office begins in earnest tomorrow when NDA-backed Independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat files his nomination papers for the July 19 presidential polls despite the numbers stacked against him.

''Mr Shekhawat will file his nomination at 1130 hrs in the presence of several NDA leaders,'' NDA Spokesperson Sushma Swaraj announced here, adding that the date of filing nomination was significant as Emergency was imposed in the country on the same day 27 years ago.

She exuded confidence that the Vice-President would be able to overcome the odds and win the numbers game to pip UPA-Left nominee Pratibha Patil to the top post.

However, the arithmetical calculations clearly favour Ms Patil who filed her papers yesterday.

President A P J Abdul Kalam's exit from the presidential race has further queered the pitch for Mr Shekhawat with the United National Progressive Alliance, a group of eight regional parties, declining to support his candidature and announcing that they would maintain a neutral approach.

Ms Swaraj was hopeful of winning over the UNPA constituents and said they would realise that abstaining from voting would bolster Ms Patil's chances.

''Today as you see, the numbers may look insurmountable but you will see them changing with the passage of every day,'' she said.

Virtually launching Mr Shekhawat's campaign, she said there was a precedent that the electoral college for the President's elections had voted listening to a ''call of conscience'' and the NDA would travel to every state and appeal to the MPs and MLAs to save the nation.

The Shiv Sena, an NDA partner, is also on the horns of a dilemma on whether to support a candidate from Maharashtra or go along with the alliance. It is expected make its stand clear tomorrow.

The NDA had got a shot in the arm in Karnataka where the BJP's coalition partner, the Janata Dal (Secular), is likely to extend support to Mr Shekhawat.

The JD(S), headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, is officially a partner of the UPA and has not withdrawn its support to the ruling coalition even after the formation of the JD (S)-BJP coalition in the state one and a half years ago.

In the UPA vs NDA and Shekhawat vs Shekhawat battle, the Vice President faces an uphill task as the number of parties supporting Ms Patil is very high. However his own past record of securing the votes of 74 MPs of non-NDA votes in the Vice Presidential polls five years ago has given some hope to the NDA.

The last date for making nominations is June 30 and scrutiny will take place on July 2. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is July 4. While the poll is to be held on July 19, counting of votes is slated for July 21.

As many as 776 Members of Parliament, including 543 from the Lok Sabha, and 4,120 legislators from various states, including Delhi and Puducherry, constitute the electoral college whose total vote value comes to 10,98,882 votes.

The ruling UPA alliance has got over 5.13 lakh votes while the strength of the opposition NDA is over 3.54 lakh votes and the combination of eight regional parties constituting the third front accounts for 1.05 lakh votes.

UNI

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