to find a place where they can pitch tents. They need to find a place from where they can guard her flat. All those contesting the Presidential election are provided with 'Z-plus' category security since the death of any one of them can result in a countermanding of the election. This security will be withdrawn for all those whose nominations are rejected after a closer scrutiny of their papers on Monday. Chaudhry, whose single point manifesto is to regularise her colony so that it gets better civic amenities, has filed two sets of papers. For M Iliyas of Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri district, his Rashtrapati dreams were set to die an early death after his nomination papers were rejected on June 18. But undeterred, he filed another set of papers on June 28, soon after Pranab Mukherjee had completed the process of filing his nomination.
There are those, of course, for whom the process is just an opportunity to seethe Parliament House from inside. For over 25 years, Delhi's Ram Krishna Mittal had stared at the building when his bus went past it on its daily route. Wanting to be president, however, gave him the rare chance to visit the secretary general's office in the central building.
At Delhi's Jantar Mantar, though, Santosh Kumar Singh is on a hunger strike and is crying foul. His nomination papers were rejected by the Returning Officer on June 21 since he failed to submit any of the requisite documents. The cook of Bollywood actor Anupam Kher, Singh has officially been declared dead after he was made to flee his village and was disowned by his family for marrying a Dalit in 2000.
Hailing from Varanasi, Singh had filed a nomination to prove that his soul and body was still intact. "When I visited a police station in Delhi to challenge my death, I was told to do something like get involved in a crime to generate some document. When the presidential polls were announced, I just thought that instead of getting involved in a crime, I shall submit nomination papers. But, they were rejected as I had not produced any voter ID. How can I get a voter ID when I have been declared dead back home?" Singh points out.
Although the constitution has provisions to restrict the number of non-serious candidates in the presidential election, there is never a dearth of independents.
The highest ever 106 nominations in any presidential election were received for the July 19 polls, with a record of 41 filing their papers on the last day of nominations - Saturday. A total of 33 nominations, including 17 on Saturday, were rejected outright by the returning officer for want of documents leaving 73 nominations for scrutiny.