Rickshaw driver, tea vendor among 26 others in Prez race

Even as focus is on Pranab Mukherjee and P A Sangma in coming Presidential polls, nomination papers have already been filed by 26 others who represent varied background -- from autorickshaw driver to tea vendor.

Thirty six nominations were filed till this evening, of which eight have been rejected and two persons have submitted two sets of nomination papers each.

Also in the fray is Sunita Chaudhary, who claims to be North India's first woman auto-rickshaw driver, Guiness Rishi who has 388 flags and over 3,000 words tattooed on his body and Anand Singh Kushwah, a tea vendor from Gwalior.

Rishi has offered to tattoo the names of his proposers and seconders on his body. He has also offered to tattoo the names and flags of political parties supporting him in the elections on his face and neck.

Bhagalpur resident Nagarmal Bajoria, who has also filed his nomination papers for the July 19 elections, uses the title 'Dhartipakad', bringing alive memories of Joginder Singh 'Dhartipakad' -- a candidate in every significant election.

Political observers recall that it was because of "non-serious" candidates like Joginder Singh Dhartipakad rules for Presidential and Vice Presidential elections were amended and a provision of 50 proposers and 50 seconders to every nomination paper was introduced.