India to choose President soon

ASIA PACIFIC DAILY

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By APD writer Rishika Chauhan

NEW DELHI, June 18 (APD) - Acting on the Election Commission’s notification, parties in India are deciding on their candidates to contest the presidential election scheduled for next month.

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) led ruling alliance, National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has decided to announce its presidential candidate on June 20. BJP President Amit Shah, has formed a committee to choose presidential candidates from the party. Party veterans like Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are being consulted in the process of selection.

Meanwhile, Sitaram Yechuri the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said that their party would support the candidate who upholds the Constitution of the country.

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu recently met Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi to discuss next month's presidential elections.

One of the candidates shortlisted by the opposition parties is former governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi who is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, the founding father of India. However, the probability of his selection is low since the majority party is not supporting him.

The parties are allowed to file nominations for the presidential election till June 28. The result of the election would be declared on July 20. However, if all parties agree to elect the same person, elections would not take place in the parliament and the candidate would be declared as the unanimously elected President of India.

The president of India is the nominal head of the state, and is indirectly elected. The president does not enjoy the same powers as the prime minister of the country.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)