Opposition candidate Margaret Alva, a Congress veteran, today filed her nomination papers for the Vice-Presidential elections to be held on August 6. She was accompanied by the Congress's Rahul Gandhi, besides NCP's Sharad Pawar, CPM's Sitaram Yechury and CPI's D Raja.
Ms Alva, 80, a former governor of Rajasthan and other states, is pitted against BJP-led NDA's candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar, 71, who filed his papers yesterday, accompanied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President JP Nadda. Mr Dhankhar was the West Bengal governor before resigning on Sunday to enter the race.
"The coming together of the opposition to support my candidature... is a metaphor of the reality that is India," Ms Alva said, "We come from various corners of this great country, speak different languages, and follow different religions and customs. Our unity, in our diversity, is our strength."
The winner will succeed M Venkaiah Naidu, whose term ends on August 10. The Vice-President is also the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. All members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated ones, form the electoral college that votes in these polls.
Mr Dhankhar, a former union minister and BJP leader from Rajasthan, has a clear advantage as several parties that aren't with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), too, have supported him, such as Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal. A similar equation is playing out in the Presidential polls -- voting was held yesterday, and NDA's Droupadi Murmu looks set to defeat the Opposition's Yashwant Sinha.
In the contest for the second highest constitutional post in India, Ms Alva has acknowledged the odds: "I know it is a difficult battle, but in politics, winning and losing is not the issue. The issue is fighting the battle... I am not going to be scared of anyone."
She has been a member of Parliament five times, and a union minister under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. She served as governor of Goa, Gujarat and Uttarakhand, besides Rajasthan. She comes from a political family, in which her father-in-law and mother-in-law were MPs.
Since parties cannot issue binding whips to members in these elections, Ms Alva pinned her hopes to individual choice: "It is my belief that the goodwill, trust, and affection of members across party lines in both houses of Parliament, that I've earned, will see me through."
Despite claims of Opposition unity, no leader from the Trinamool Congress or the Aam Aadmi Party was present during the nomination-filing. Both parties were absent also at the meeting where Ms Alva was chosen as candidate. But Sharad Pawar has said he is in touch with TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well as AAP boss and Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
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