New Delhi: In a pivotal political event, voting for the Vice President of India is set to take place today, with members of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha participating in the voting process.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has nominated Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan as its candidate, while the INDI Alliance has fielded former Supreme Court judge B Sudarshan Reddy.
Only the 542 current members of the Lok Sabha and 239 members of the Rajya Sabha are eligible to vote, making a total of 781 members in the electoral college. A candidate requires at least 391 votes to secure victory.
Voting will take place in the new Parliament building from 10 AM to 5 PM, followed by the counting of votes scheduled to begin at 6 PM.
Given the NDA’s clear majority in both Houses of Parliament, their candidate is widely seen as the frontrunner.
As per Article 66(1) of the Constitution, the Vice President of India is elected by an electoral college consisting of the elected members of the Rajya Sabha, the nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and the elected members of the Lok Sabha.
Under Section 4, sub-sections (4) and (1) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Act, 1952, the Election Commission issued a notification on August 7.
Therefore, in the 17th Vice President election, there are currently 781 eligible voters, and a candidate must secure a minimum of 391 votes to be declared the winner.
Considering the strength and political equations in both Houses, the NDA has 293 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 134 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. This gives the NDA a solid total of at least 427 votes. The Opposition INDI Alliance has 249 members in the Lok Sabha and 105 members in the Rajya Sabha, making a total of 354 votes.
Currently, there are 542 MPs in the Lok Sabha, and 239 in the Rajya Sabha.
The Opposition YSR Congress has announced its support for the ruling NDA candidate, while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Biju Janata Dal have decided to abstain from voting. This has further strengthened the numbers in favour of the NDA candidate Radhakrishnan.
In this election, the value of each member's vote in the electoral college is equal to 1, and voting is conducted under the proportional representation system by the single transferable vote method. The procedure for voting in the Vice President election is laid down in Rule 17 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Rules, 1974.
The ballot paper will contain the names of the contesting candidates, but there will be no election symbols. The ballot paper will have two columns -- one titled "Name of the Candidate" and the other titled "Mark Preference Order."
Each voter may, if they wish, mark the election symbol in front of all the candidates' names in order of preference, but no ballot paper will be invalidated solely because the voter has not marked all the preferences, provided their first preference has been validly marked.
While casting their vote, the voter will mark "1" in the space next to the name of the candidate chosen as their first preference. Additionally, the voter may, at their discretion, mark subsequent preferences by numbering the spaces next to the names of other candidates as 2, 3, 4, and so on, in order of preference, as many as they wish. These numbers can be written in the international form of Indian numerals, Roman numerals, or in any Indian language script, but they should not be written in words.
The minimum age for a candidate in the Vice President election is set at 35 years, and the candidate must be eligible to become a member of the Rajya Sabha. Since 1952, there have been 16 Vice President elections in the country, and this is the second time after 1969 that the election is being held before completing the five-year term.
