Voting Concludes For Vice-Presidential Elections

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi cast their vote on Saturday as elections for the next vice-president of India concluded.

Voting began earlier today to elect the 14^th Vice President of the country which concluded at 5 pm in the Parliament House. The counting of votes will also take place today.

The election was between the NDA’s candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar, the former Governor of West Bengal and opposition candidate Margret Alva, a former minister in the Union cabinet.

It may be noted that the Vice-President is elected by an electoral college that consists of members of both the Houses of the Parliament, according to the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

The voting takes place using secret ballot. The Electoral College to elect a person to the office of the Vice-President consists of all members of both Houses of the Parliament.

The voting process began today at 10 am. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first of leaders to cast his vote. Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh and president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jagat Prakash Nadda, also cast their votes.

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Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh arrived to cast his vote in a wheelchair. The 89-year-old senior Congress leader had also come in a wheelchair to cast his vote in the presidential elections.

Moreover, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also cast his vote in the elections. The Vice-President, who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is not a member of the House.

It may be noted that the next Vice-President will take the oath of office on August 11, a day after the term of the leaving Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu ends.

Political parties including Janata Dal (United), YSRCP, BSP and AIADMK have expressed their support for the NDA candidate Dhankhar, while Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) have supported opposition candidate Alva. The Trinamool Congress has abstained from the vote.

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