Over ten days after Jagdeep Dhankhar’s sudden resignation as the Vice President of India, the Election Commission of India (ECI) released the schedule for the Vice Presidential Election on 1 August to fill the vacancy.
The Vice President holds the office for a term of five years from the date on which he or she enters upon his or her office. However, Article 68(2) of the Constitution states that in case of the Vice President’s death, resignation or removal or otherwise, an election shall be held as soon as possible after the occurrence of the vacancy.
Dhankhar’s term was until 2027, but he resigned with two years of his term remaining. The new VP will be elected for a full five-year term.
In accordance with the Constitutional provisions and relevant laws and rules, the Election Commission of India released the schedule for the 17th Vice Presidential Election. The polls for electing the next Vice President of India, if required, would be held on 9 September.
Qualifications required by a candidate to contest polls:
a) Be a citizen of India.
b) Have completed 35 years of age.
c) Be eligible to be a member of the Rajya Sabha.
d) Not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State or under any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the said governments.
Conditions for candidates filing nomination:
1. A candidate filing nomination has to be subscribed by at least twenty electors as proposers and at least twenty electors as seconders. The nomination has to be presented to the Returning Officer, between 11 am and 3 pm on any day appointed for the purpose – either by the candidate or by any of his proposers or seconders.
2. A candidate must submit a security deposit of ₹15,000 to the Returning Officer in cash or any other legal means for the election.
3) Electors have to mark the ballot only with this particular pen and not with any other pen.
4) The ECI has appointed the Rajya Sabha’s secretary general as the returning officer for the VP elections.
5) The political parties cannot issue their MPs a whip for voting in the VP election.
6) The Counting of votes will be held in New Delhi under the supervision of the returning officer. On completion of counting, the returning officer will sign and issue the return of election.
How do the numbers stack up in the Electoral College?
As per the details, the Electoral College consists of 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha, 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha for the 17th Vice Presidential Election.
Now that the dates are out, both the NDA and the INDIA bloc will nominate their candidates.
As things stand, the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has a majority in the electorate. There are fair chances that an NDA candidate will be the next Vice President of India.