Notification for VP's Poll Issued, Nominations Open
The post fell vacant on July 21 following the surprise resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar citing health reasons
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Thursday issued a notification for the election of Vice President of India on September 9. With the notification begins the process of nomination.
As per notification, August 21 is the last date for filing nominations along with a security deposit of Rs 15,000. The documents will be scrutinised on August 22 and the last date for the withdrawal of nomination is August 25. Candidates filing nomination need to submit a certified copy of the entry relating to the candidate in the electoral roll for the Parliamentary constituency in which the candidate is registered as an elector alogn with a receipt of security deposit.
The post of Vice President fell vacant on July 21 following the surprise resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar, who cited health reasons for his decision. His term was to end in August 2027.
According to Constitutional provisions, in case of a mid-term poll, the incumbent gets a full five-year term.
The ruling NDA has a comfortable edge in the Vice Presidential elections. The Vice President is elected by the members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, with nominated members of the Upper House also eligible to vote. The 543-member Lok Sabha has one vacant seat -- Basirhat in West Bengal -- while there are five vacancies in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. Of the five vacancies in the Rajya Sabha, four are from Jammu and Kashmir, and one from Punjab. The seat from Punjab was vacated after AAP leader Sanjeev Arora quit following his election to the state assembly in a bypoll last month.
The effective strength of both the Houses together is 786 and the winning candidate will require 394 votes, considering that all eligible voters exercise their franchise. In the Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA enjoys the support of 293 of the 542 members. The ruling alliance has the support of 129 members in the Rajya Sabha, assuming that the nominated members vote in support of the NDA nominee, which has an effective strength of 240. The ruling alliance has the support of 422 members.
