Source: LiveMint
The members of Parliament are ready to cast their votes for the vice-president’s poll which is scheduled on Saturday. According to speculations, the ruling NDA‘s candidate M Venkaiah Naidu is tipped to be India’s next vice president. Notably, the name of the next vice president of India will be known tomorrow evening after members of Parliament cast their ballot during the day in Parliament House.
With a majority in the Lok Sabha, the ruling NDA candidate is expected to replace, Mohammad Hamid Ansari. The opposition has fielded Gopal Krishna Gandhi against Naidu. Following the political trend, the BJD and the JD(U) which had supported NDA nominee Ramnath Kovind for the post of president, have decided to back opposition nominee Gandhi. Although the opposition ‘mahagathbandhan’ seems to be weakened, it has decided to vote for Gandhi, a former governor of West Bengal.
Members of Parliament will use special pens for marking their choice in the election to be held between 10 am and 5 pm tomorrow. The counting of votes will begin after polling and the results will be declared by 7.00 pm, reported PTI. As the election is held through a secret ballot system, the political parties will have no whip to use against the results.
The electoral college which elects the vice president, who is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, consists of elected and nominated members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. The total strength of the two Houses is 790, but there are two vacancies in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha. In the 545-member Lok Sabha, the BJP has 281 members. The NDA led by BJP has 338 members.
In the 243-member Rajya Sabha, the BJP as of now has 56 members, while the Congress with 59 is the single largest party. With its recent wins in the recent assembly polls, the BJP is set to emerge as the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha too next year and the NDA’s tally would be close to 100.
The one who bags 50 per cent plus one vote of the total valid votes cast will win the poll.