NEW DELHI, June 12 (Xinhua) -- India's ruling party Monday nominated a three-member committee comprising of top ministers to consult political parties, including the opposition, in a bid to forge a consensus on a candidate in the upcoming presidential polls.
The committee comprising of Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu is mandated with the job of holding deliberations with allies and opposition to reach a consensus to pick a successor to incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee.
"Our party chief Amit Shah who was currently touring different states has cancelled his schedule for the Presidential polls and today formally announced formation of a three-member panel for the job," a BJP leader said.
Mukherjee's term expires on July 25. He had assumed office of the Indian President on July 2012.
Opposition parties too have been holding deliberations with Congress party President Sonia Gandhi for quite some time over the issue.
Neither BJP nor opposition has so far nominated their candidates for the polls.
The filing of nomination for the election begins on June 14 and continues till June 28. The polls are likely to take place on July 17.
For presidential elections in India, the electorate comprises of lawmakers from both lower and upper house of Indian parliament and elected members of state assemblies.
