Vice presidential poll on Saturday; numbers stacked in favour of NDA's Dhankhar

Members of Parliament will vote on Saturday to elect the next Vice President of India in an election where NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar is pitted against Opposition pick Margaret AlvaWith numbers stacked in favour of the NDA Dhankhar former governor of West Bengal is set for an easy winCracks were visible in opposition unity as Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress decided to abstain from voting alleging lack of consultations while deciding on the name of AlvaThe 80yearold Alva is a Congress veteran and has served as governor of Rajasthan while the 71yearold Dhankhar is a Jat leader from Rajasthan with socialist backgroundAlso Read BSP chief Mayawati announces support for NDAs VP candidate Jagdeep DhankharWhile polling will be held from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday the ballots will be counted immediately after that By late Saturday evening the returning officer will announce the name of the next vice presidentMembers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha including nominated members are eligible to vote in the vice presidential pollThe term of incumbent M Venkaiah Naidu ends on August 10 The vice president is also the chairperson of Rajya SabhaThe electoral college in the vice presidential election comprises a total of 788 members of both Houses of Parliament Since all the electors are members of both Houses of Parliament the value of vote of each MP would be the same one the Election Commission has saidThe election is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote and the voting at such election is by secret ballotThere is no concept of open voting in this election and showing the ballot to anyone under any circumstances in the case of presidential and vicepresidential elections is totally prohibited the EC has cautioned adding that parties cannot issue whip to its MPs in the matter of votingUnlike the presidential poll where voting takes place in multiple locations as elected MLAs not nominated also form part of the electoral college in the vice presidential election voting takes place in Parliament HouseThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever