The Congress is confident that the UPA’s with its presidential candidate Mr Pranab Mukherjee will secure over seven lakh value votes of the total 10.98 lakh in the July 19 election for the higest office.
Mr Mukherjee will file his nomination papers on Thursday, June 28, at 11 am in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and other top leaders of the ruling front and supporting parties that include Mr Sharad Pawar (NCP), Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Mr T.R. Baalu (DMK), Mr Ajit Singh (RLD), Dr Farooq Abdullah (NC), Mr E. Ahmed (IUML), Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav (RJD), Mr A.K. Antony, Mr P. Chidambaram, and others.
The Trinamul Congress led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has yet to make up its mind about a stand in this election.
The Opposition backed presidential candidate P.A. Sangma will file his nomination on Thursday, the day when Mr Mukherjee will submit his papers.
Mr Sangma’s office said that he will file his nomination papers on June 28. He is likely to be accompanied by senior BJP leaders, Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy, senior MPs from AIADMK and BJD, among others.
Senior BJP leaders will be meeting here on Wednesday to decide the names of proposers for Mr Sangma. Meanwhile, the Janata Dal (U) chief and NDA convenor Sharad Yadav will be a proposer for Mr Mukherjee.
Mr Mukherjee is expected to file four sets of nomination papers and Mr Sharad Yadav is the first signatory to one such set which also has the signature of defence minister A.K. Antony.
Mr Sharad Yadav signed on the nomination paper after Union ministers Rajeev Shukla and V. Narayanasamy drove down to his official residence here. The two Congress leaders had an hour-long discussion with the JD-U chief and is learnt to have requested him to be present when Mr Mukherjee files his nomination on June 28.
Another JD-U MP Vashishtha Narayan Singh has also signed on the same set of nomination paper. The two BJP led NDA constituents — the JD(U) and the Shiv Sena — have decided to support Mr Mukherjee.
While the CPI(M) and Forward Bloc too will back Mr Mukherjee, the CPI and the RSP would abstain from voting. The Trinamul Congress which has been sharing power at the Centre and in West Bengal is keeping cards close to its chest on this issue.
Ms Banerjee remained noncommittal when the BJP, BJD and the AIADMK backed presidential candidate P.A. Sangma met her in Kolkata to seek her party’s support.