With NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind filing his nomination on Friday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that it was not the right step for opposition parties to field a candidate for the presidential election.
Expressing his confidence that Kovind would win the polls, PTI quoted Naidu saying, “Ram Nath Kovind will win with a huge majority, which is evident from the number of people who attended the event where he filed nomination.”
This came after opposition parties named former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as their candidate, to be the next President.
Kovind, (71), filed the papers in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and Chief Ministers of states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies as well as parties backing him.
After filing the nomination, Kovind came out along with Modi, Shah, party stalwarts L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, with others following them.
Those present included Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal, and Naidu.
A former BJP MP, Kovind told the media after filing his nomination that he has had no party affiliation since he became the Bihar Governor after Modi took power in New Delhi in 2014.
"The President's post carries a lot of dignity. My effort will be to keep the post above party politics. I promise I will try my best to uphold the dignity of this office. The Constitution is supreme and it is our duty to maintain its supremacy," he added.
While the election is scheduled for July 17, Naidu’s TDP party was one of the first to announce support to Kovind, when his name was announced.
Meanwhile, Meira Kumar, the opposition candidate, in a statement appealed to all members of the Electoral College to vote on the basis of "cherished principles of...inclusiveness, social justice and pluralism."
"The post of the President carries the responsibility of safeguarding and defending our constitutional principles. The values I hold dear -- of inclusiveness, social justice and pluralism -- are the values the President must uphold. If these values are undermined so is our Constitution," she said.
IANS inputs