Decks were cleared on Monday for a straight contest between the UPA-Left Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil and Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
NEW DELHI: Decks were cleared on Monday for a straight contest between the UPA-Left Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil and Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who is being supported by the NDA.
Although 74 other aspirants had also filed their nominations papers, their candidacy was rejected by the returning officer for the Presidential elections and the Lok Sabha secretary general PDT Achary as their papers were not in order.
Barring Patil and Shekhawat, the others were, said Archarya, mostly non-serious candidates who appeared to have filed nominations to get some publicity.
The candidates whose papers were rejected by the returning officer had either failed to attach the signatures of at least 50 proposers and as many seconders or had not deposited the security amount of Rs 15,000 at the time of filing of documents.
Though Dhartipakad, who has the distinction of having filed his papers in almost all high-profile elections in recent years, was missing this year, his absence was made up by some other colourful characters. Despite the disappointment of their papers being rejected, they appeared determined to make the most of the opportunity to appear before television cameras.
While the representatives of the two main candidates sat quietly in a corner, the other candidates held forth before the Returning Office in full glare of the TV cameras.
ML Sharma reached the Lok Sabha secretary general's office five minutes after the proceedings had started but insisted on his case being taken up first on the grounds that he had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court.
When asked by Archarya to wait for his turn he announced loudly that he was the main candidate as the two main contestants would be debarred once his PIL was taken up by the apex court
One aspirant who had his papers rejected because he did not have the requisite number of proposers insisted that all candidates be provided facilities like free telephones and air tickets so that they could travel to different states to collect signatures from MLAs.
Yet another aspirant insisted that the returning officer ensure a level playing field among all the candidates and summon both Patil and Shekhawat to the room so that he could advise them.
“I want to advise them to bow out from the race. I cannot contact them because every time I call someone else picks up the phone and says they are not available,” he complained.
Despite the daily bitter exchanges between the UPA and the NDA, representatives of both Patil and Shekhawat chatted amiably. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and Abhishek Singhvi represented Patil, while Shekhawat was represented by Sushma Swaraj and former MP Satpal Jain.
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