<div align="justify">On the eve of the Presidential election, Congress president Sonia Gandhi called for a conscience vote to put “best minds” at the helm to preserve the idea of an inclusive, tolerant and pluralistic India.<br /><br />Addressing a meeting of the Opposition parties here, Sonia termed the presidential and vice presidential elections as a “clash of ideas” and a “conflict of disparate values”.<br /><br />“In these contests, the numbers may be against us. But the battle must be fought and fought hard,” she said at the meeting attended by Meira Kumar and Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Opposition candidates for the Presidential and vice presidential elections respectively.<br /><br />Meira is pitted against NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind, who is comfortably placed with the support of over 63% of the electoral college. The NDA is yet to name its candidate for the post of vice president.<br /><br />Sonia said, “The election demands a vote of conscience to preserve the India that the Mahatma and that illustrious generation of freedom fighters, joined by thousands upon thousands of ordinary men and women, fought for.”<br /><br />“We cannot and must not let India be hostage to those who wish to impose upon it a narrow-minded, divisive and communal vision,” she added.</div>
<div align="justify">On the eve of the Presidential election, Congress president Sonia Gandhi called for a conscience vote to put “best minds” at the helm to preserve the idea of an inclusive, tolerant and pluralistic India.<br /><br />Addressing a meeting of the Opposition parties here, Sonia termed the presidential and vice presidential elections as a “clash of ideas” and a “conflict of disparate values”.<br /><br />“In these contests, the numbers may be against us. But the battle must be fought and fought hard,” she said at the meeting attended by Meira Kumar and Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Opposition candidates for the Presidential and vice presidential elections respectively.<br /><br />Meira is pitted against NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind, who is comfortably placed with the support of over 63% of the electoral college. The NDA is yet to name its candidate for the post of vice president.<br /><br />Sonia said, “The election demands a vote of conscience to preserve the India that the Mahatma and that illustrious generation of freedom fighters, joined by thousands upon thousands of ordinary men and women, fought for.”<br /><br />“We cannot and must not let India be hostage to those who wish to impose upon it a narrow-minded, divisive and communal vision,” she added.</div>