Hours after Pranab Mukherjee filed his nomination papers, BJP-backed presidential candidate P A Sangma filed his nomination papers. He was accompanied by BJP’s L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari. Among others present were Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik, who first proposed Sangma’s name, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and AIADMK’s M Thambidurai.