New Delhi: Leaders of the opposition parties will meet on Wednesday to pick a consensus candidate to be the next president of the India.
Today's meeting comes in the backdrop of announcement by the Election Commission that the presidential elections will be held on July 17 and the counting of votes will take place on July 20.
The Election Commission further said the filing of nominations will begin on June 14 and the last date for the purpose will be June 28. Scrutiny will take place on June 29 and the last date for withdrawal is July 1.
The term of the country’s 13th President Pranab Mukherjee will end on July 24.
The opposition parties will also discuss candidate for Vice President election as Hamid Ansari’s term ends in August.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has taken a lead in bringing the opposition parties on a common platform for the elections scheduled in July.
Sonia Gandhi had earlier constituted a sub-group of representatives from opposition parties to take forward the discussions on the presidential elections.
The sub-group consists of Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge, JD-U leader Shard Yadav, RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, TMC leader Derek O’Brien, Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav, BSP’s Satish Chandra Mishra, DMK leader RS Bharathi and NCP’s Praful Patel.
So far, several opposition parties have held parleys to find a consensus candidate but have decided to wait for the ruling alliance to reach out to them with the name of its candidate.
The parties have said that if a consensual candidate does not emerge, they will field a candidate “who will steadfastly defend the constitutional values”.
Meanwhile, BJP chief Amit Shah has also formed a three-member committee comprising Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu to pick a presidential candidate.
Interestingly, BJP ally Shiv Sena had projected RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's name for the country's highest constitutional post, but the veteran Hindutva leader had denied that his is in race to be the next president.
