President Ram Nath Kovind’s successor will be decided next month as India 16th presidential election To be held on 18th July. The Election Commission has started the nomination process and the last date has been fixed as June 29. One nomination on social media is of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Yadav plans to throw his hat into the ring, believing that there must be a Bihari in the competition.
However, there is a twist here. Yadav is not a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief, but a resident of Saran district, which coincidentally bears his famous name “Karmabhoomi” (the land of work), Yadav claims to have already taken a flight to Delhi. has booked tickets, where he proposes to file his nomination papers on June 15.
This is not the first time that Yadav will file nomination papers for the presidential election. He also fought the current Kovid in 2017.
“My papers were rejected last time because these were not supported by sufficient number of proposers. This time, I am better prepared”, Yadav said.
A resident of Yadav Rahimpur village in Marhaura assembly constituency of Saran, Yadav, barely 42 years old, is the son of the RJD president, though, like the latter, he also looks after a large family.
“I practice agriculture for a living and engage in social work. I have seven children. My eldest daughter is married,” Yadav said.
It is not surprising that acquaintances refer to them as “Dharti Pakad” (those clinging to the earth), an adjective that has become associated in India’s political lexicon with those who prefer to contest elections for the sake of adventure and publicity. Huh. ,
Yadav scoffs at his chin and recalls with pride that the RJD supremo “blamed me for the defeat of his wife Rabri Devi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections”.
Former Chief Minister Rabri Devi herself had contested from Saran, which was earlier represented by her husband, who was disqualified in 2013 after being convicted in the fodder scam.
She lost to BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who rode the Narendra Modi wave and won by a margin of around 50,000 votes.
Lalu Prasad Yadav got less than 10,000 votes and his deposit was forfeited.
Fearless Yadav again jumped into the fray in 2019 and got nearly six thousand votes.
“I keep trying my luck from Panchayat to President’s post. If nothing else, I can make a record of contesting the most elections,” he said.
The last date for filing nomination papers is June 29 while scrutiny of nomination papers will be held till June 30. The last date for withdrawal of nominations has been kept as July 2. The final counting of votes will take place on July 21. Voting for the Presidential election will take place in the premises of Parliament and State Legislatures.
In the 2017 presidential elections, a total of 108 nominations were filed by 95 candidates. A candidate can file up to four nomination papers. After scrutiny, only two names were left for NDA candidate Kovind and opposition candidate Meira Kumar. Kovind won by securing 6,61,278 votes, while Congress-backed Meira Kumar got 4,34,241 votes.