Who was the UPA candidate for the 2017 Presidential election?

The answer is A) Ms. Meira Kumar. In the 2017 Presidential election, the UPA fielded Meira Kumar, a former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, against the NDA's Ram Nath Kovind. Kovind won and became the 14th President of India.

Why the others are wrong:

• B) Gopal Krishna Gandhi was the opposition candidate in the 2017 Vice-Presidential election, which Venkaiah Naidu won. He was never a Presidential candidate in 2017, so this is a same-year mix-up.
• C) Dr. Karan Singh was not a candidate in either the 2017 Presidential or Vice-Presidential contest.
• D) Incorrect, because Option A is correct.

The core concept is the indirect election of the President under Articles 54 and 55. The electoral college consists of elected MPs and MLAs, and votes are weighted and counted by the single transferable vote system. This also explains why party alignment in Parliament and the state assemblies decides the outcome. For Mains, it connects to debates on the President's largely ceremonial role under Article 74 and on the process of constitutional appointments.

Trap: Candidates often mix up the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections of the same year, because both had opposition candidates in 2017.