Meet the Patels, the couple gunning for India's top 2 Constitutional posts
The six people who have so far filed their nomination papers for the upcoming presidential polls include the Patels, social workers from Mumbai who want to prove that any Indian citizen has the right to contest for the post of the President of India.
According to the Constitution of India, any citizen who is above the age of 35, is eligible to be a Lok Sabha member, and who does not hold an office of profit in the Indian government or any state government, can contest the presidential elections.
Speaking with Bloomberg Quint, Mohammed Patel said,
When it was time for the nominations to be filed for the elections to the post of President of India, I decided to contest, but not alone. I decided that even my wife would contest with me, so that the world could see how democracy works in India.
After having filed their nomination papers, the couple is in talks with local MLAs to muster up support. If they manage to get the required signatures and one of them becomes president, the other, far from losing hope, will then run for vice-president!
Apart from the couple, Dr K Padmarajan from Salem, Tamil Nadu, who has lost 170 different elections in the last 29 years, Anand Singh Kushwaha from Madhya Pradesh, A Bala Raj from Telangana, and Dhoti-clad Kondekar Vijayprakash from Pune have filed their nominations.
Kondekar, who resembles a religious saint, in a chat with NDTV, said,
I know my nomination paper will be rejected. A layman like me cannot obtain 100 signatures. I am crazy but one should be crazy.
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