Voting to Elect India’s Next Vice President Begins

Voting for the Vice Presidential Election 2022 began at 10 am at the Parliament House in New Delhi on Saturday.

The voting will be held till 5 pm and the counting will begin right after the polling ends. The results of the elections 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 had chosen Margaret Alva as its candidate for the post.

With support from regional parties like the Janata Dal (United), YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK and Shiv Sena, Dhankhar, is set for an easy win with over 515 votes. Alva is likely to get over 200 votes with the backing of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

The vice-president is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

This year, the Electoral College consists of 245 Rajya Sabha members and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha. AAccording to the Election Commission, the value of the vote of each member would be the same i.e. 1. The voting will be held by a secret ballot.

The term of the incumbent vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu ends on August 10.

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