Mumbai: Mohammad Abdul Hamid Patel and Saira Bano from suburban Mumbai, who became the first couple ever to file nominations to contest the presidential elections in 2017, are aiming to become a President again in the upcoming presidential election that are held in July.
Unfortunately, the couple does not stand a chance of remaining in the contest when the nomination papers are scrutinised on June 30 for the July 2022 election. July 2 has been decided as the last date of withdrawing from the electoral battle and result of the presidential poll will be announced on July 21.
According to statutory rules, 50 MPs or MLAs must propose a candidate’s name and 50 more must second the candidature of the President. Mohammad and Saira are very unlikely to secure the confidence of either MPs or MLAs.
While contesting for the Presidential Polls in 2017, determined Mohammad had said, "To get signatures of 50 MPs and MLAs is not at all easy for a common man like me. As in last election too due to required number of signatures I did not succeed. Hence I would be soon filing a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) urging to remove the condition. So a comman man like me can contest the elections."
Furthermore, out of the 11 candidates who filed for nominations, one candidate's application was rejected for want of proper documents.
The candidates who filed nominations on Wednesday were from Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Among the candidates is a Lalu Prasad Yadav from Saran in Bihar, not to be confused with the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief with the same name.
Some individuals, who filed nominations have contested the Presidential polls as well as other elections several times before. Dr. K. Padmarajan from Salem, Tamil Nadu; Jeevan Kumar Mittal from Moti Nagar in Delhi.
