Hamid Ansari, the incumbent Vice-President and UPA’s candidate for this year’s vice-presidential election, filed his nomination on Wednesday and thanked all political leaders who pledged him support. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was happy that Ansari had a big support behind him.

Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, RJD chief Laloo Prasad, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav were present on the occasion, among several others. The Trinamool Congress has so far remained non-committal about supporting Ansari. The CPI(M) and Forward Bloc have also decided to back Ansari.

The NDA has decided to field Jaswant Singh against Ansari in the vice-presidential election scheduled in August.

Calculations predict Ansari should get 470 votes out of an electoral college of 790. If Mamata Banerjee supported him, the number will increase to 28. Ansari needs 396 votes to win.