Presidential Polls: Powered by PM Modi's Presence, Droupadi Murmu Files Papers, Dials Mamata, Sonia for Support

Accompanied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top Union Ministers, including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, the BJP-led NDA’s nominee Droupadi Murmu on Friday filed her nomination papers for the July 18 presidential election.

PM Modi handed over the set of papers to Returning Officer P C Mody. Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal were present. Besides, BJP president J P Nadda and several chief ministers including Yogi Adityanath, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Manohar Lal Khattar, B S Bommai, Bhupendra Patel, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Pramod Sawant and N Biren Singh showed support to Murmu.

Besides the NDA leaders, YSR Congress’ V Vijaysai Reddy and BJD leader Sasmit Patra, who are not part of the alliance, were also in Parliament to back her nomination. AIADMK leader O Paneerselvam and M Thambidurai, JD-U’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh also reached Parliament early.

Murmu also personally called up and spoke to some key opposition leaders, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, NCP’s Sharad Pawar and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and sought their support for her candidature. them before filing her nomination.

All the three leaders expressed their best wishes to her, PTI sources said.

Every set of nomination has to have 50 proposers and 50 seconders among elected representatives. Murmu, if elected, will be the first tribal president and the second woman in the post. She will also be the youngest president ever, second only to N Sanjeeva Reddy, who was a few days elder to her when he became the President.

Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry granted Z category security cover to Opposition’s presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha. An adequate number of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel has been deployed, as per the order released on Thursday.

‘Z’ category is a security detail of 55 personnel, including 4-6 NSG commandos and police personnel.

The Centre accorded a Z+ security cover of CRPF commandos to Murmu on Wednesday. The armed squad took over the security of Murmu, 64, early on Wednesday morning.

BJP president J P Nadda on Tuesday announced the candidature of Murmu, a party leader from Odisha who served as Jharkhand governor, at a press conference, night following a meeting of the party’s parliamentary board, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders. Officials said soon after this announcement, the Union home ministry directed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to deploy its VIP protection team to take charge of Murmu’s security.

A threat perception security report generated by central security agencies for the NDA presidential candidate formed the basis for the home ministry’s decision, the officials said.

A dozen-odd opposition parties declared Sinha as their candidate on Tuesday, the same day the BJP declared Droupadi Murmu as its candidate for the post of the President.

Terming it a contest between two ideologies and not individuals, the Opposition’s presidential candidate and former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday said that the leaders of the other ideology are intent on throttling the Constitution and “Making a mockery of the people’s mandate in elections.”

If elected, he said, “I shall not allow the independence and integrity of democratic institutions to be weaponised against political opponents, as is happening now.”

“The ongoing attacks on the federal structure of the Constitution, whereby the government is attempting to rob the state governments of their legitimate rights and powers, will be treated as totally unacceptable. I shall also use the authority of my office to check the menacing power of ill-gotten money that is killing the soul of Indian democracy and making a mockery of people’s mandate in elections,” Sinha told media persons here.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday praised NDA’s Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu for her “understanding of the problems on the ground” and dubbed her vision for India’s development as “extraordinary”.

The Prime Minister made the remarks after he met Murmu in New Delhi. After Prime Minister, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also met the NDA’s Presidential candidate.

Murmu will also be meeting several Union ministers and veteran leaders before filing her nomination for the post of President on Friday.

Sharing pictures of his meeting with Murmu on Twitter, Prime Minister Modi wrote, “Met Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji. Her Presidential nomination has been appreciated across India by all sections of society. Her understanding of grassroots problems and vision for India’s development is outstanding.”

Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here.