Vice Presidential Election 2022: Know polling, election process, result date and other details

The contest between NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar and Opposition nominee Margaret Alva is expected to choose India’s next vice president.

The contest between NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar and Opposition nominee Margaret Alva is expected to choose India’s next vice president.

Voting will take place on Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm, but the results will be announced right away.

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The odds are in the NDA’s favour, and former West Bengal governor Dhankhar is expected to win with ease.

The 71-year-old Dhankhar is a Jat politician from Rajasthan with a socialist background, while the 80-year-old Alva is a veteran of the Congress and has held the office of governor of Rajasthan.

How the number stacked up

There are currently 790 members of the electoral college, including 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha and 12 nominated members, as well as 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha and two nominated members.

A contender must receive more than 395 votes in the voting procedure to win the vice presidential election.

Dhankhar is most likely to receive two-thirds of the vote due to the BJP’s 91 Rajya Sabha and 303 Lok Sabha members. Regional groups including the Shiv Sena, YSR Congress Party, Janata Dal (United), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and All India Anna Dravidar Munnetra Kazhagam will also back Dhankhar. With their backing, the NDA candidate will probably receive more votes than 515, which is sufficient for a convincing victory.

Alva, on the other hand, is most likely to get between 190 and 200 votes.

The Trinamool Congress, which is led by Mamata Banerjee and has 23 members in the Lok Sabha and 16 in the Rajya Sabha, has opted not to run for vice president.

How Vice Presidential is election conducted

An electoral college made up of representatives from both Houses of Parliament elects the vice president using a single transferable vote and a secret ballot in accordance with the proportional representation system.

All members of both Houses of the Parliament make up the Electoral College, which chooses the Vice President.

The Vice President does not belong to either the House of Representatives or the House of the State Legislature. In the event that a member of either the House of Parliament or the House of the Legislature of any state is elected vice president, such member is assumed to have given up their position in that House as of the day they take office.

A person who wants to contest Vice-President must be

  • an Indian national;
  • have reached 35 years of age, and
  • is eligible to contest for election as a Council of States member (Rajya Sabha).
  • he/she should be a citizen of India, 30 years of age and an elector of the Parliamentary constituency in a State or Union Territory which he/she seeks to be elected to represent.
  • A person is not also eligible if he/she holds any office of profit under the Government of India or a State Government or any subordinate local authority.

How Vice President Elections are conducted

The vice presidential election is managed by the Election Commission of India.

Important Clauses Concerning the Vice President’s Election

Within 60 days of the departing vice president’s term of office expiring, the next vice president will be chosen.

There are 788 members of both Houses of Parliament in the electoral college for the vice presidential election. The Election Commission has stated that because every elector is a member of both Houses of Parliament, each MP’s vote has the same value, or one.

By using a single transferable vote and a secret ballot, the election is conducted in line with the proportional representation system.

The EC has warned that there is no idea of open voting in this election and that it is strictly banned for candidates running for president or vice president to display their ballot to anyone under any circumstances. It also stated that parties cannot issue a voting whip to their MPs.

Voting for the vice president takes place in Parliament House, as opposed to the presidential election, which is held in numerous venues because elected MLAs who were not nominated also make up the electoral college.

How the votes are counted

The following steps make up the vote-counting process:

Each candidate’s share of first preference votes is calculated.

The calculated numbers are added together, the sum is divided by two, and one is then added to the quotient, leaving out any remainder. The resulting total is the required amount for a candidate to guarantee their victory in the election.

Any candidate who receives more votes than the required number at the conclusion of the first count or any future counts is declared the winner.

If no contender can be proclaimed the winner after any count, then;

The candidate who has received the fewest votes up to this point will be eliminated from the election, and each of their ballots will then be individually reviewed with an eye on any second preferences that may have been marked.

The value of the votes cast on those ballot sheets will be credited to the corresponding remaining (continuing) candidates for whom those second preferences have been indicated.

These voting records will be given to the aforementioned continuing contender. Even if the ballots have a third or later preference, those on which the second preference is not marked are considered exhausted ballots and are not tallied again.

A candidate will be deemed elected if, at the conclusion of this count, he or she meets the required number of votes.

The counting will continue by excluding the candidate who is currently ranked last in the poll up to this point if no candidate can be declared elected at the conclusion of the second count as well.

All of his or her ballots, including any that may have been received during the second count, will be once again examined in light of the “next available preference” mark that was placed on each of them.

The second preference will be transferred to a candidate if it is marked for one of the remaining candidates on a ballot paper that person received in the first count. Any vote paper that has the second preference marked for a candidate who has already been eliminated in the second round will have its third preference, if any, for a continuing candidate moved to it.

The ballots he or she obtained via transfer in the second round will likewise be examined with regard to the third choice indicated on them.

The lowest-ranking candidates will continue to be excluded through this method until one of the remaining candidates meets the quota.

The Returning Officer announces the election’s outcome after the voting has taken place and been tallied.

The Central Government then notifies the Election Commission of India and the Ministry of Law & Justice of the results, and the Central Government publishes the name of the Vice-President-elect in the Official Gazette.