NEW DELHI, June 28: The race to elect India’s 13th president formally began Thursday with both UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee and his rival Purno Sangma filing their nominations for the July 19 contest. The result will be out July 22. While Mukherjee sought the “blessing of god and cooperation of all” to get elected, Sangma termed his candidature “a victory of tribal unity.” Both Mukherjee and Sangma said they will start their campaign Saturday, and expressed the hope that the mercurial Mamata Banerjee would rally on their side. While opposed to Mukherjee, Banerjee has still not supported Sangma. “I only wish at this time that we have the blessing of god and cooperation of all at this juncture,” Mukherjee told reporters.  He thanked the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Shiv Sena for their support. “I was fortunate, honoured and humbled to be nominated by UPA. The nomination was endorsed by a large number of political parties. I seek support of all those, including Trinamool, who have not yet decided,” Mukherjee said. He clarified that it was the 14th presidential election to elect the 13th president of the country as the first president, Rajendra Prasad, was elected twice to the country’s highest office. The nominations became an opportunity for the ruling United Progressive Alliance and the opposition to show their strength. Mukherjee was accompanied by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Lalu Prasad, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Ajit Singh, Lok Janshakti Party’s Ram Vilas Paswan, National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, Indian Union Muslim League’s E. Ahmed and senior DMK leaders.Supporting Sangma, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, BJP president Nitin Gadkari and party leaders L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were present during his nomination. IANS