The election will be held on July 17 and counting will be done on July 20.
The Congress-led Opposition, on the other hand, can be accused of reproducing the familiar dynastic traits by picking Meira Kumar, the daughter of late Dalit leader and former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram.
The meeting of the Opposition parties started with an address by Gandhi where she talked about Opposition unity and putting up a joint candidate.
Pawar proposed three names - Meira Kumar, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Bhalchandra Mungekar - all Dalit leaders. This comes as surprise, as AAP was not allowed to participate in the discussion to select a presidential candidate and is not part of the 17-party group of non-NDA parties.
"The BJP government didn't even consult other political parties before announcing the name of Ram Nath Kovind for the post of President".
Asked about Nitish Kumar's support for Kovind, Gandhi said: "I am not upset with anybody. I appeal to every political party to support".
"I will speak to Nitish Kumar and try to persuade him to reconsider this decision, to not make this historic blunder (of backing Kovind)". "Our decision to support Kovind remains unchanged". I would pose a question to them that don't you think that your decision was a little too immature and in haste when you took important decision like who is going to head the Indian executive for the next five years?
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Kumar said the post embodied the diversity of Indias socio-political culture and the vision of its "composite ideology".
The opposition on Wednesday suffered a blow as the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) announced support for National Democratic Alliance candidate Kovind. A lawyer and a former diplomat, she was the first woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
While it is unclear whether the regional parties in Congress ruled states of Mizoram and Meghalaya will vote for or against the NDA candidate, for now it is plausible that the ruling party in both the states will vote for UPA candidate Meira Kumar.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today that the opposition parties fielded Meira Kumar as their presidential candidate to divide Dalits to "save their skin". Kumar, who was being provided with "X" category security, will be provided with 'Z+' security cover by the Delhi Police, official sources said on Friday.
In the third set, proposer Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Parkash Singh Badal and Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu will be present. While Derek O' Brien represented the Trinamool, the SP sent Ramgopal Yadav and the BSP Satish Chandra Misra.
JD-U, which has chose to back Kovind, skipped the meeting.
In the wake of the upcoming presidential polls, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Secretary General Sitaram Yechury has assured that the opposition will mount a fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in defence of the minorities of the country.
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