New Delhi, July 19 (FN Agency) The opposition candidate for the post of Vice President, Margaret Alva, on Tuesday asserted that elections don’t frighten her as “winning and losing is a part of life”.”It is a privilege and honour to be nominated as the candidate of the joint opposition for the post of Vice President of the Republic of India. I accept this nomination with great humility and thank the leaders of the opposition for the faith they’ve reposed in me,” she said.
Alva made the statement after filling the nomination for the post of Vice President in Parliament against the NDA nominee Jagdeep Dhankar in the presence of Congress MP Rahul Gandi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, CPI(M) General secretary Sitaram Yechury and others.”I believe this nomination is an acknowledgement, by the united opposition, of the over 50 years I’ve spent in public life, as a member of both houses of Parliament, a Union Minister, a Governor, a proud representative of India at the UN and on other global platforms, and as a fearless champion of women’s rights and the rights of underprivileged and marginalised groups and communities across the length and breadth of our great nation,” she said.”Over these 50 years, I’ve worked for my country with integrity, courage and commitment, my only obligation: to serve without fear, the Constitution of India.”
The coming together of the opposition to support my candidature for the post of Vice President is a metaphor of the reality that is India. We come from various corners of this great country, speak different languages and follow different religions and customs.”Our unity, in our diversity, is our strength. We fight for what is important to us: to uphold the pillars of democracy, to strengthen our institutions, and for an India that is ‘Saare Jahan se Accha’, that belongs to each and every one of us”.Alva, a five-term MP, has been a Minister in several Congress governments at the Centre. In 2009, she was appointed the Governor of Uttarakhand, which was followed by gubernatorial assignments in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Goa.The election for the office of the 16th Vice-President will be held on August 6 and counting will take place the same day.