Numbers stacked in favour of NDA's Dhankhar for Vice-President election
NDA's Vice Presidential candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar has got the numbers stacked in his favour for the election scheduled on Saturday
PremiumThe Members of Parliament (MPs) will on Saturday, August 6, vote to elect the next Vice President of India. NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar, former Governor of West Bengal, is set for an easy win with numbers falling in his favour. Jagdeep Dhankhar has been pitted against the Opposition's pick, Margaret Alva.
Cracks were visible in Opposition unity as Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress decided to abstain from voting on Saturday, alleging a lack of consultations while deciding on the name of Alva.
Margaret Alva (80) is a Congress veteran and has served as Governor of Rajasthan, while Jagdeep Dhankhar (71) is a Jat leader from Rajasthan with a socialist background.
Polling will be held from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday and the ballots will be counted immediately after that. By late Saturday evening, the returning officer will announce the name of the next Vice President of India.
Members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated members are eligible to vote in the vice presidential poll.
Incumbent Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu's term will end on August 10. The Vice President is also the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
The electoral college in the vice presidential election comprises a total of 788 members of both Houses of Parliament. Since all the electors are members of both Houses of Parliament, the value of the vote of each MP would be the same - one, the Election Commission has said.
The election is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote and the voting at such an election is by secret ballot.
The elections for the President and Vice President are tightly monitored and there is no concept of open voting in this election. Showing the ballot to anyone under any circumstances in the case of presidential and vice-presidential elections is totally prohibited, the EC has cautioned, adding that parties cannot issue whips to their MPs in the matter of voting.
Voting for the Vice President election will take place in Parliament, unlike the presidential polls where voting takes place in multiple locations as elected MLAs, not nominated, also form part of the electoral college.
With inputs from PTI
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