Prez poll will be one-sided contest: Bansal

New Delhi: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Thursday said the Presidential election will be a 'one-sided' contest and United Progressive Alliance (UPA)'s candidate Pranab Mukherjee will enjoy a thumping victory'.

"It (Presidential election) will be a thumping win for Pranab Mukherjee," Bansal said while addressing a press conference on Thursday.

"The poll will be a one-sided contest," he said.

Mukherjee on Thursday filed his nominations for the election accompanied by high profile politicians and the Prime Minister and later thanked all the political parties who supported him irrespective of their ideological differences.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and other senior ministers and politicians accompanied Mukherjee as he filed his nomination in Parliament House.

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose support to Mukherjee was crucial for his selection by the UPA, was also present at the nomination filing function.

In fact almost all UPA allies and their friendly parties except Trinamool Congress (TMC) were present.

RJD's Lalu Prasad was also present during the filing of nomination.

Four sets of nomination papers were filed by Mukherjee.

Mukherjee later thanked all for supporting him.

Naming parties like Shiv Sena, JD (U), CPI-M, Pranab Mukherjee said: "I am grateful to them as they have reposed faith in me to occupy the office which was occupied in the past by great stalwarts of this country."

"I only wish at this time that let me have the blessings of God and cooperation of all at this juncture," he said.

Pranab Mukherjee's challenger P A Sangma, who is supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), will also file his papers on Thursday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pranab Mukherjee submitted his resignation from the post of Finance Minister to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in order to contest the upcoming election.

The Presidential election is scheduled for July 19.