3 holidays before deadline for filing of nominations in presidential poll

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) With three holidays coming ahead of the June 28 deadline for filing of nominations in the presidential election, major political parties, including the ruling NDA, are expected to file the papers of their respective nominees by June 23.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat said in a release that nominations cannot be filed on June 24 and 25 because of public holidays -- they being Saturday and Sunday, respectively -- and also on June 26, which will be a holiday on account of Eid subject to visibility of moon.

In view of these holidays and the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be leaving on a three-nation tour of Portugal, the US and the Netherlands from June 24 to 27, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ramnath Kovind is expected to file his nomination on June 23.

This was as much indicated by BJP President Amit Shah at a press conference where he announced Kovind's name as NDA's presidential nominee.

The last day for filing nomination papers is on June 28. Scrutiny is on June 29 and the last date for withdrawal is July 1.

Polling, if necessary, will be held on July 17 and vote counting will be on July 20.

The tenure of incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee ends on July 24.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)