Opposition Vice Presidential Candidate Margaret Alva Files Nomination Papers

Joint opposition candidate for the vice presidential election Margaret Alva on Tuesday filed her nomination papers for the post and was accompanied by a host of leaders. The vice presidential poll will be held on August 6 to elect the successor to M Venkaiah Naidu, whose term ends on August 10.

Alva, 80, is pitted against NDA's Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resigned as West Bengal governor after being nominated on Saturday evening. Several opposition leaders, including Congress' Rahul Gandhi, NCP's Sharad Pawar, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, were present during her nomination filing.

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja and MDMK's Vaiko were also present during the nomination filing.

No leader from the Trinamool Congress or the Aam Aadmi Party was present during the nomination filing of the joint opposition candidate. Both the parties were not represented at the opposition meeting that decided on fielding Alva as their consensus candidate, but Pawar had said that he is in touch with both TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well as AAP convener and Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Tuesday is the last date for submission of nominations for the vice presidential election. "It's a tough election without a doubt, but I'm not afraid to take on the challenge," Alva had said on Monday while thanking opposition parties who have supported her candidature.

Former Rajasthan governor and Congress veteran Alva was unanimously chosen as the joint opposition candidate for the post of vice president on Sunday in the presence of leaders from 17 opposition parties. All MPs of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated members, comprise the electoral college for the vice president's election.

-WIth PTI Input