On the penultimate day of filing of nomination papers for the July 19 presidential polls, ten more candidates joined the fray taking the total number of aspirants to 43.

Those who filed their nomination papers on Friday are Mahesh Chandra Sharma from Uttar Pradesh, Janvaker Prabhakar Dada Dattatreya from Maharashtra, Tiger Baba from Delhi, Vidhya Prakash Awasthi from Uttar Pradesh, Satbir from Haryana, M Velu Murugan from Tamil Nadu, Satish Chandra Sharma from Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Saoji Deshpandey from Maharashtra, N S Murlidharan from Tamil Nadu and Shyam Lal Chaurasia from Chattisgarh.

National Democratic Alliance-backed independent Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who filed his nomination papers on Monday, is pitted against United Progressive Alliance-Left candidate Pratibha Patil.

Filing of nomination papers began on June 16 and will close on Saturday. The scrutiny will take place on July two while July four is the last date for withdrawal.

The counting of votes will take place on July 21.