Margaret Alva is Opposition’s vice presidential pick

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar  has said that senior Congress leader and former governor Margaret Alva will be the Opposition's joint candidate for Vice President. Addressing a press conference after holding a meeting of Opposition leaders at his residence in New Delhi on Sunday, Pawar said 17 parties are on board for this unanimous decision. Margaret Alva was elected to Rajya in 1974 as a representative of Congress. Pawar said that besides the 17 parties, the support of Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party will make Alva the joint candidate of a total of 19 parties.

Among the attendees were Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja and Binoy Viswam, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, DMK's TR Baalu and Tiruchi Siva, SP's Ram Gopal Yadav, MDMK's Vaiko and TRS' K Keshava Rao. The RJD's AD Singh, IMUL's ET Mohammed Basheer and Kerala Congress (M)'s Jose K Mani were also present.Alva also thanked the leaders of the Opposition for showing faith in her.

It is a privilege and an honour to be nominated as the candidate of the joint opposition for the post of Vice President of India. I accept this nomination with great humility and thank the leaders of the opposition for the faith they’ve put in me.

Jai Hind

— Margaret Alva (@alva_margaret) July 17, 2022

 80 years old Alva  would file her nomination papers on Tuesday, July 19, the last date for filing nominations for the August 6 election