A Serial Loser, A Couple From Mumbai.... See Who Is Running For President

The Patels have a dream. The couple from Mumbai, who filed their nomination papers for the presidential poll today, would like to share the two top Constitutional posts between them.

They, and a bare-chested man in a dhoti, were among the six who filed their papers on the first day of nominations for the July 17 election to the President's post.

Their papers, however, were liable to be rejected as none had the signatures of 50 proposers and as many seconders from the list of electors, essential for a valid nomination.

Elected members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and of state legislative assemblies are the electors.

Among the six to make a dash for filing the nomination papers were the Mumbai couple, Saira Bano Mohammed Patel and Mohammed Patel Abdul Hamid from Mumbai, and Dr K Padmarajan from Tamil Nadu's Salem, who has lost 170 elections over the last 29 years to retain his record of the "most unsuccessful candidate".

Others who filed their nominations included Anand Singh Kushwaha from Madhya Pradesh, A Bala Raj from Telangana, and dhoticlad Kondekar Vijayprakash from Pune filed their papers.

The Patels told the returning officer that it would be "good" if one of them became the country's President, and the other, the Vice President, sources present there said.

All six had attached certified copies of their election cards to prove they were voters, and four had put in the Rs. 15,000 as the security amount that nominees need to deposit.

On his nomination papers, filed in two sets, Mr Vijayprakash, who, an eyewitness said, looked like a sadhu, wrote: "I know my nomination paper will be rejected. A layman like me cannot obtain 100 signatures. I am crazy but one should be crazy. Sir, our institutions like Parliament (are) locked and the prison of political parties."