Country Gearing up for Presidential Poll – Choice Between Two Shekhawats
By Anupama Prabhu - by Daijiworld Media Network Manipal
Jul 19: With the Presidential elections a only a day away, the political parties might be busy making their last minute prayers, hoping that their candidate wins and acclaims the prestigious position.
The Presidential Election 2007 will take place on July 19, and the counting will take place on July 21. The term of office of the present President A P J Abdul Kalam is upto July 24.This year’s Presidential elections witnessed a dramatic chain of events.
Months before the issue of Presidential elections was in the news, e-mails started circulating the inboxes that contained a petition for APJ Abdul Kalam to contest for the Presidential elections for the second term. News was that the UPA did not want Kalam to contest for a second term and would not have him as the candidate.
The decision of the UPA became clear when they nomitated Pratibha Patil as their presidential candidate. With the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party, whose chief Mayawati declared that her party's votes will go in the favour of the Congress candidate, Congress has full faith that their candidature will come out victorious. With Mayawati agreeing to support UPA's Presidential candidate, Patil is again emerging as the frontrunner to become the country's First Citizen.
Then came the bad news, planted no doubt by the opposition. A series of Patil’s wrong doings came to be reported extensively. The reports surfaced made no difference to the Congress, they stood by her as their candidate.
However, the decision of the NDA was not consistent with UPA. The NDA filed the nomination paper of the current vice-president of India- Bhairon Singh Shekewat as an “independent” candidate.
AIADMK, Samajwadi, Telgu Desam and Indian National Lok Dal tried to convince the outgoing President APJ Abdul Kalam. His becoming the president was debated when he was elected the President in the year 2002. The 75-year-old and a former top government defence and space scientist had managed to appeal to India's young people. He decided to contest in the elections once if he was sure of winning in this election. The NDA stepped ahead and assured that they would support Dr A P J Abdul Kalam if he decided to contest elections.
The Left wanted External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to be the next President. Shivraj Patil was also expected to get some support from Maharashtra, but the Shiv Sena ended up announcing that it would support Pratibha Patil only if he were able to prove Maharashtrian origins.
Apart from being the nominal head of the state, the President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the Head of State and chief guardian of the Constitution. He has the authority to dissolve Parliament and call fresh elections, declare a state of emergency, and dismiss governments in the states, but all upon the counsel of the Prime Minister and the elected government. Thus the Indian President does not have much power as the Prime Minister has.
Everything said and done, the President of India is endowed with the prestigious title of ‘First Citizen’ of the country. If Pratibha Patil won the elections, the country would have its first woman President.