NEW DELHI, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Some 24 people have filed nominations to contest the upcoming presidential poll in India since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday named the eastern state of Bihar's Governor Ram Nath Kovind as its choice for the top constitutional post.
The presidential election is slated for July 17 and the results are to be declared on July 20. The incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee's five-year tenure expires in July-end.
However, sources said Thursday that none of the 24 people is backed by political parties, including the country's main opposition Congress party, and they have all filed their nominations to contest the presidential poll as independent candidates.
Two of the independent candidates have been rejected by the Election Commission for want of documents, sources said.
The BJP Monday named 71-year-old Ram Nath Kovind as party-led National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) choice for the country's next president.
Apart from being a top lawyer, he's a two-time member of the Upper House of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).
According to the country's rules, any Indian voter above the age of 35 years is eligible to contest the presidential poll with the mandatory signatures of 50 proposers and as many seconders from the list of electors.
The president is the ceremonial head-of-state who is indirectly elected by the people through elected members of both the houses of the Indian Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of all the states, and serves for a renewable term of five years.
