Pranab, Sangma file nominations

India's ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) nominee Pranab Mukherjee and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate PA Sangma yesterday filed their nomination papers for the July 19 presidential elections in the presence of a host of leaders from both the sides.
Pranab Mukherjee was accompanied by prominent leaders in the UPA and other parties including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Mukherjee handed over his nomination papers to Vivek Kumar Agnihotri, Rajya Sabha Secretary General and Returning Officer for the Presidential elections.
Soon after completing the process, Mukherjee thanked parties like Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Janata Dal(U), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Shiv Sena for reposing faith in him.
“I am grateful to them as they have reposed faith in me to occupy the office which was occupied in the past by great stalwarts of this country.
“I only wish at this time that let me have the blessings of God and cooperation of all at this juncture,” he told reporters at the Parliament House.
Four sets of nomination papers, signed by as many as 480 MPs and MLAs, including union ministers, chief ministers, congress legislature party leaders were submitted by Mukherjee.
Convenor of the opposition NDA and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav was the first signatory on one set of nomination papers followed by Defence Minister AK Antony. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati have also signed the nomination papers.
As a matter of abundant precaution, each set of nomination papers have 60 proposers and 60 seconders against 50 proposers and 50 seconders as required under election rules.
SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ram Vilas Paswan, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and union ministers such as P Chidambaram, Farooq Abdullah, Ajit Singh, E Ahamed, AK Antony, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Ashwini Kumar were present at the time of Mukherjee filing his nomination papers.
As expected, UPA ally Trinamool Congress, which has decided not to back Mukherjee, was not present.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has been appointed as Mukherjee's authorised representative.
Meanwhile, NDA presidential candidate PA Sangma filed his nomination papers yesterday, terming it a “victory of tribal unity”.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, BJP president Nitin Gadkari and party leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were among those who were present at the Rajya Sabha secretariat for the filing of the nomination.
“Today is a victory of tribal unity, that a tribal is filing his nomination for the post of president,” Sangma told reporters ahead of submitting his papers to the Rajya Sabha secretary general, VK Agnihotri, the returning officer for the election.