YSR Congress Party to second Ram Nath Kovind in 4th set of nomination

New Delhi: BJP-led NDA will file the fourth set of nomination papers of their presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind with YSR Congress Party as the seconder after the latter formally agreed to support him even as the ruling alliance is in talks with other political parties to increase its strength.

Urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu will be signing as the proposer while Nellore MP and YSRCP leader M Rajamohan Reddy will be put his signatures as the seconder. The set will have 60 lawmakers from various states and Parliament signing as proposers and another 60 as seconders.

With each of the four sets having the signatures of 120 lawmakers (as proposers or seconders), a total of 480 legislators have signed the nomination papers.

Reddy was to arrive in the national capital on Tuesday evening. Naidu and Reddy will complete the formalities in Parliament House on Wednesday morning before opposition candidate Meira Kumar files her nomination.

Wednesday is the last day for filing nominations in this presidential election. Polling will take place on July 17 and counting and announcement of results be on July 20.

Naidu had also met INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala and the latter is likely to announce his party’s support to Kovind on Wednesday. Chautala, who is serving a sentence in a teacher recruitment scam that took place during his tenure as chief minister of Haryana, is out on parole.

On June 23, when NDA filed three sets of nomination papers, Kovind’s candidature was supported by 28 parties. With YSRCP and INLD extending support, the number goes up to 30. BJP is in touch with other regional parties as well as Independents.