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Current Affairs PDF June 2012 Page 14PRANAB MUKHERJEE ALL SET TO BE IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONSPranab Mukherjee, who has been nominated the ruling Congress Party candidate for the Presidential Elections 2012,resigned as the Union Finance Minister on 26 June 2012. Mukherjee tendered his resignation to Prime MinisterManmohan Singh. A veteran Congress party leader, Mukherjee was appointed the Union Finance Minister on 24January 2009, during the UPA I government. The victory of UPA in 2009 general elections saw him again occupyingthe finance portfolio in the UPA II Government. Mukherjee was first appointed as the Finance minister of India duringthe Indira Gandhi government in 1982 and he got his maiden annual budget presented in the Parliament in 1982-83.Mukherjee was first elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament in 1969 from West Bengal.He was re-elected in 1975, 1981, 1993 and 1999. His first stint as the Union Minister started in 1973, when he wasappointed the Union Deputy Minister for Industrial Development in the Indira Gandhi government. He was firstelected to the Loksabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, in 2004 from Birbhum constituency in WestBengal. Mukherjee served in various capacities fewer than three different Prime Ministers including Indira Gandhi, PVNarsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh.In a Parliamentary career spanning more than four decades, Mukherjee held various key positions such as the UnionMinister of External Affairs and Union Minister of Defence in various Congress governments. As the Deputy Chairmanof Planning Commission during PV Narsimha Rao government from 24 June 1991 to 15 May 1996, he wasinstrumental in the growth of Indian economy in the post economic reform era. A key figure of the Congress led UPAgovernment, Mukherjee was heading nearly a dozen Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on various crucial issuessuch as telecom, divestment, food security, water issues, gas pricing and large power projects, among others. Hiscandidature for the Presidential Elections also made him to quit as the head of numerous EGoM.Important Information:As per the Article 58 of the Indian constitution, any person who holds any office of profit is not eligible tocontest Presidential Election in India. Since any of the union or state cabinet ministries does not fallunder the office of profit, it is constitutionally not obligatory on person holding any ministry to resignfrom his post to contest the Presidential Election.www.jagranjosh.comPage14Current Affairs PDF June 2012