The voting for choosing the next Vice-President of India ended this evening at 5 pm. NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankar, who is facing opposition Margaret Alva, is expected to sail through with BJP support.
725 MPs voted in the election of the Vice President, sources said. Even though the Trinamool Congress had decided not to vote, Bengal leader of opposition Shubhendu Adhikari’s father Sisir Adhikari, and brother Dibyendu Adhikari voted. 34 Trinamool MPs did not vote. Results are likely later today.
Jagdeep Dhankhar — best known for his role as the former Governor of Bengal — can expect 527 votes, far higher than the 372 required to win. Altogether it could be 70 percent of the total votes, two percent more than M Venkaiah Naidu received.
The Electoral College comprises 780 MPs — 543 in Lok Sabha and 245 in Rajya Sabha. Leaving aside the eight vacant seats in the Upper House and the 36 MPs of Trinamool Congress, which decided to abstain from voting, 744 MPs are expected to vote.
Mr Dhankhar also has the support of several other non-NDA parties – Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal, Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, Akali Dal and the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena. Together, they have 81 MPs.
Margaret Alva can expect 26 percent votes (around 200). She has the support of Congress, MK Stalin’s DMK, Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, and the Left parties.
Besides, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Aam Aadmi Party, and the nine MPs of Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction are supporting Ms. Alva
In the last election, Opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi received 32 percent of the votes.
Under the system of proportional representation by a single transferable vote, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates.
Comments