Collegium should vote for an ideology that binds India: Meira Kumar

New Delhi, Jul 17 :  Joint Opposition Presidential candidate Meira Kumar today appealed to the Collegium to heed to their voice of conscience and vote for an ideology that binds India. Addressing reporters, Ms Kumar said, ''Today I am in this contest to fight the battle of ideologies. It is an ideology that strives for social justice and protects freedom of the press and secularism. I have appealed to the Hon Collegium to heed to their voice of conscience and vote for an ideology that binds India, an Ideology of social justice,inclusiveness, secularism, liberty, end of poverty and destruction of caste system binds us together as a nation ''. She stressed to need to heed to one's conscience in the best interest of the country. ''The inner voice of our conscience is pure and powerful.We need to heed to it in the best interest of the country,'' Ms Kumar said. Polling is underway in Parliament and State Assemblies for electing the 14th President of the country. Ruling NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind and joint Opposition candidate Meira Kumar, both Dalits, are pitted against each other in the election. The President is chosen by an electoral college comprising all the MPs and MLAs in the country, with weighted votes apportioned. As many as 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha, 543 members from the Lok Sabha and 4,120 MLAs from the state Assemblies comprise the electors. The electoral college has a vote value of 10.98-lakh and comprises 4,896 electors -- elected members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and elected members of Legislative Assemblies of states and union territories. Counting of votes will take place from 1100 hrs on July 20. Incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee’s term expires on July 24 and a new President has to take over on July 25. UNI