Presidential election: PM Modi speaks to Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh to seek support for Ram Nath Kovind

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek their support for NDA's Presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind.​

The BJP panel, set up by party chief Amit Shah and comprising senior leaders Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu, had earlier reached out to some opposition leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi. 

Meanwhile, Telangana CM KCR has has agreed to support NDA's candidate.

"Hon'ble PM @narendramodi Ji has telephoned Sri KCR garu seeking support for Sri Ramnath Kovind Ji as President. Our CM has agreed to support," said KTR, Minister Municipal Administration & Urban Development.

Hon'ble PM @narendramodi Ji has telephoned Sri KCR garu seeking support for Sri Ramnath Kovind Ji as President. Our CM has agreed to support

— KTR (@KTRTRS) June 19, 2017

However, Shiv Sena is yet to clear its stand. On Sunday, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had reportedly refused BJP chief Amit Shah's proposal that Sena should also support the name which would be decided after talking to all NDA alliance partners and Sena should also agree to the name finalised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

K Padmarajan from Tamil Nadu, Anand Singh Kushwaha from Madhya Pradesh, A Bala Raj from Telangana, a couple Saira Bano Mohammed Patel and Mohammed Patel Abdul Hamid from Mumbai, and Kondekar Vijayprakash from Pune have filed the nomination papers for the post.

The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 25.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the notification in this regard and the process of the nomination has started that will continue till June 28.