Vice president poll: Hamid Ansari files paper, CPI to Support

NEW DELHI: CPI, which had decided to abstain from voting in the presidential poll, on Wednesday announced its support for UPA nominee Hamid Ansari for his re-election as vice-president. "CPI will support Hamid Ansari in the vice-presidential election," CPI national secretary D Raja said after a meeting of the party's central secretariat in New Delhi on Wednesday.

CPM, which has 27 MPs, had already declared its support for Ansari. With the All India Forward Bloc also backing Ansari, RSP would be the only party from the Left Front which would abstain in the vice-president poll. CPI and RSP had decided to oppose Pranab Mukherjee's presidential bid because they saw him as the 'architect of UPA's neo-liberal economic policies.' However, in Ansari's case, though he is UPA's candidate, he was primarily Left's choice in 2007.

Seventy-five-year-old Ansari, who filed his nomination papers for the August 7 poll on Wednesday, is comfortably placed in terms of numbers in the contest against BJP leader Jaswant Singh, main opposition alliance, NDA's candidate. Besides the entire UPA, Ansari has the support of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.

Set to become the first person to get two consecutive terms as vice-president after S Radhakrishnan, Ansari filed his papers in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and leaders of the ruling coalition. Sonia Gandhi, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Congress MP Motilal Vora and BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra submitted one set of papers each to returning officer, Lok Sabha secretary-general TK Vishwanathan, in support of Ansari's candidature. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and leaders of other ruling coalition were also present.