Vice Presidential election on Sep 9: ECI
New Delhi, Aug 1: The election for the post of Vice President will be held on September 9, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Friday.
The notification for the Vice Presidential election will be issued on August 7, and the last date for filing nomination papers will be August 21.
The polling, if required, would take place in Room No F-101, Vasudha, on the first floor of the Parliament building on September 9 between 10 am and 5 pm.
The results will be announced on the same day.
The post of the Vice President fell vacant after the resignation of incumbent Jagdeep Dhankhar on July 21.
The ECI has appointed the Rajya Sabha Secretary General as the Returning Officer and two officials of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat as Assistant Returning Officers for the vice presidential election.
The Electoral College for the vice presidential election comprises members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, too, are eligible to vote in the vice presidential election.
The Electoral College for the vice presidential election comprises 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha, 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, and 543 members of the Lok Sabha.
There are five vacancies in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha, pegging the effective strength of the Electoral College at 782.
The ruling NDA has a comfortable edge in the ensuing poll.
The 543-member Lok Sabha has one vacant seat – Basirhat in West Bengal – while there are five vacancies in the 245-member Rajya Sabha.
Of the five vacancies in the Rajya Sabha, four are from Jammu and Kashmir, and one from Punjab.
The seat from Punjab was vacated after AAP leader Sanjeev Arora quit following his election to the state assembly in a bypoll last month.
The effective strength of both the Houses together is 782, and the winning candidate will require 391 votes, considering that all eligible voters exercise their franchise.
In the Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA enjoys the support of 293 of the 542 members.
The ruling alliance has the support of 129 members in the Rajya Sabha (effective strength 240), assuming that the nominated members vote in support of the NDA nominee.
The ruling alliance has the support of a total of 422 members.
A person cannot be elected as the Vice President unless he is a citizen of India, has completed 35 years of age, and is qualified for election as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
A person is also not eligible if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India, a state government, or any subordinate local authority.
Article 66 (1) of the constitution provides that the vice presidential election should be held following the system of proportional representation using the single transferable vote, and the voting at such an election should be by secret ballot.
In this system, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates.
The Vice President is the second-highest constitutional office in the country.
He or she serves for a five-year term, but can continue to be in office, irrespective of the expiry of the term, until the successor assumes office.
