Vice Presidential Election today: All you need to know | India News
Dhankhar is competing with opposition candidate Margaret Alvawho served as Union Minister in several Parliament-led governments.
The term of incumbent M Venkaiah Naidu ends on August 10.
The Election Commission has announced the schedule for the June 29 vice presidential election. Voting will be held in Parliament House, and the tally will be conducted on the same day.
Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s vice presidential election.
Office of the Vice President of India
It is the second highest constitutional office after the president. The Vice President is also the official chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Who can become Vice President of India?
To be elected vice president, a person must be an Indian citizen, be at least 35 years old and must not hold any for-profit office.
He must also meet all the criteria to be elected as a member of Rajya Sabha.
What is the nomination process?
The nomination of a candidate needs to be endorsed by at least 20 electors and 20 others.
Candidates are required to deposit a security amount of Rs 15,000 with RBI.
Who votes to elect the vice president?
The Vice President is elected by members of the Electoral College consisting of members of both houses of Congress under a system of proportional representation by a single, transferable secret ballot.
The Electoral College consists of a total of 788 MPs (233 elected and 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, 543 elected members of Lok Sabha). However, with 8 vacancies in Rajya Sabha, this time there could be a maximum of 780 votes.
Unlike in presidential elections, nominated members of Parliament can also vote to elect a vice president. However, members of the state legislature did not vote.
Political parties cannot whip their MPs.
Where are the elections and counting of votes held?
Voting will take place in Room 63 on the 1st floor of Parliament House on August 6 between 10am and 5pm. The tally will take place on the same day.
What is the value of an individual voter’s vote?
Since all electors are members of Parliament, the value of each member’s vote is equal, i.e. 1.
How is the winner decided?
The electors rank the candidates in the competition in order of preference. While marking the first preference is required for the vote to be valid, the other preferences are optional.
The number of votes needed to win is calculated by dividing the total number of valid votes by two, plus one (ignoring the remainder, if any).
If no candidate obtains the required number of first preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first preference votes is disqualified and the second preference votes are carried over. This process is repeated until a candidate obtains the required number of votes.
Story so far
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was sworn in as India’s first vice president on May 13, 1952. Since then, India has seen 12 more vice presidents.
Radhakrishnan joins Hamid Ansari in sharing the difference of having served more than one term.
Most of the vice presidents (5) have been elected to office Conference nominated, followed by BJP (2).