Yashwant Sinha is Opposition's candidate for Presidential polls

Yashwant Sinha, former Union minister and TMC leader, has been named as the joint opposition candidate for Presidential polls.

“We (opposition parties) have unanimously decided that Yashwant Sinha will be the common candidate of the Opposition for the Presidential elections,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh announced during a meeting of Opposition parties on Tuesday.

Yashwant Sinha, a civil servant-turned politician, has served as a union minister in the governments led by Chandra Shekhar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

His name came up after Sharad Pawar, Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah opted out of the race.

“We are going to file the nomination for the Presidential elections on 27th June at 11.30 am,” NCP chief Sharad Pawar said.

The President is elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of States and the Union Territories of Delhi and Pondicherry.

The presidential election is slated to be held on July 18 and votes will be counted on July 21.

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