Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar filed her nomination papers as the Opposition’s Presidential candidate on Tuesday. She has the support of several political parties, including the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. Kumar will contest against National Democratic Alliance candidate and former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind on July 17.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi called the upcoming election “a battle of ideology and principles”. Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi, too, toed the same line. He said Kumar represented “the values that bind us as a nation and people” against the “ideology of divisiveness”. Kumar herself had said on Tuesday that the 17 Opposition parties backing her they had united under a common ideology.

Both Kumar and Kovind belong to the Dalit community, a factor the two contending sides have been quick to simultaneously highlight and downplay. Kumar is the daughter of Dalit leader and former Deputy Prime Minister late Jagjivan Ram. Kovind was former president of the BJP Dalit Morcha.

On Tuesday, Kumar said “caste-identification” should not be a factor in the election. “Why should caste be an issue in the Presidential election,” Kumar said. “This election is being fought on the basis of ideology, and not caste. Would you want the election for the highest post in the country to be fought on the basis of caste?”

Kumar, a five-time MP and Indian Foreign Service officer, had submitted her papers in the presence of Sonia Gandhi, chief ministers Amarinder Singh, Virbhadra Singh and Siddaramaiah.

Taking a jibe at Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj’s claims that she was biased, Kumar said members of the House commended her on her last day as Lok Sabha speaker. “Nobody made allegations that my style of functioning was biased,” Kumar said.

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah had announced Kovind’s candidacy on June 19. The NDA candidate had filed his nomination papers in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders at the Parliament on June 23.

Kovind also has the support of non-NDA political parties including the Biju Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.