Vice Presidential election today: NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar favorite
New Delhi: As Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members (788) join today to elect next Vice President of India, numbers are largely in favour of NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar, former Governor of West Bengal. Amid a bitter political battle raging between the BJP-led NDA government and the Opposition, only parliamentarians will vote to elect the next VP in a contest of competing ideologies between the NDA candidate, Jagdeep Dhankhar. The Opposition has fielded former Congress MP Ms Margaret Alva.
The numbers in the Vice-Presidential poll are stacked heavily in favour of Dhankhar and it is to be seen whether the Opposition will be hit again by cross-voting like what was witnessed in the Presidential election last month. The Opposition ranks are badly divided once again. The Trinamool Congress, the second largest Opposition party after the Congress in Parliament with 36 MPs in both the Houses, has decided to abstain from the Saturday vote. While the Aam Aadmi Party, TRS, AIMIM and JMM have announced their support for Alva, the BSP and TDP have decided to vote for Dhankhar.
Voting starts at 10 AM today and ends by 5 PM, while counting will start shortly after voting is over. New Vice President will take oath on August 11 to replace incumbent Venkaiah Nayudu whose term ends on August 10.