Polling for the Vice Presidential Election 2022, will be held today on August 6. The voting will take place from 10 AM to 5 PM. The ballots will be counted just after the voting takes place and the results will be declared by late Saturday evening. The Secretary-General, Lok Sabha will be appointed as the Returning Officer for the election.
Jagdeep Dhankhar is the vice-presidential candidate of the ruling National Democratic Alliance(NDA), while the opposition, led by the Congress has chosen Margaret Alva as its candidate for the post.
The election of the vice-president takes place by the members of the Electoral College which has members of both Houses of Parliament. The polling takes place by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
This year marks the 16th Vice-Presidential Election. The Electoral College consists of 245 Rajya Sabha members and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha. The Election Commission maintains that the value of each vote by all members would be the same, that is only one. The voting shall take place by a secret ballot.
Up till now, Dhankhar is expected to win the Vice Presidential polls, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 303 members in the Lok Sabha and 91 in the Rajya Sabha. The prior West Bengal governor is likely to get over 500 votes. Dhankar is also supported by Janata Dal (United), YSRCP, Shiv Sena and AIADMK. On the other hand, Alva is likely to get around 200 votes.
The Trinamool Congress has said they will refrain from voting as the Mamata Banerjee-led party alleged that it was not consulted before announcing Alva’s name. Notably, the TMC has 23 MPs in the Lok Sabha. At the same time, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) are supporting the Congress member.
Current Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu’s term will end on Wednesday, August 10. The Vice President is also the chairperson of the Upper House.
