NEW DELHI, June 9: The process for the 11th presidential elections on July 14 commenced today with the issue of notification by the Election Commission.Nominations for the elections will be accepted by Returning Officer S Gopalan in his office in Parliament House till June 23. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be taken up the next day. The last date of withdrawal is June 26.The nomination papers of a candidate must be proposed by 50 members of the electoral college and seconded by another 50.The electoral college comprises elected members of both Houses of Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies. Along with the nomination papers, candidates would also have to deposit Rs 15,000 as security.Gopalan, who is also Lok Sabha secretary general, with Returning Officers J P Ratnesh and G C Malhotra had discussions with Chief Election Commissioners G V G Krishnamurty and J M Lyngdoh, on the arrangement for the presidential elections.Gill and the two commissioners briefed them on the guidelines for the conduct of the elections in a free and fair manner.Later, Krishnamurty visited Parliament House where room number 63 has been earmarked for use as a polling booth.Meanwhile, Vice President K R Narayanan seems to have emerged as the consensus choice of most political parties for the post of the President.The Left today named Narayanan as its choice and the indications are that the BJP Parliamentary Board, when it meets in Bhopal on June 12, will formally announce the party's support for Narayanan.Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav has also decided that his party should back Narayanan for President and Najma Heptulla for the post of the Vice President.Laloo Prasad today said that if Narayanan was elected to the highest office, it would be ``a tribute to the Dalits in the fiftieth year of independence.''Forward Bloc leader Chitta Basu told mediapersons today that the Left parties had decided to propose Narayanan's name as the Presidential candidate. ``He will be our candidate for the august office. The Left parties are for him as the next President,'' Basu said.In Udaipur, BJP president L K Advani declined to comment on the Left support for Narayanan.He said that the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting in Bhopal would decide on who to back for the President's office. But party sources indicated that the meeting in Bhopal would formally endorse the decision to support Narayanan.
