24 Parl panel meetings lined up on eve of Vice-Prez poll

On the occasion of Vice-Presidential elections on September 9, seven parliamentary committees — six of various Lok Sabha panels and one of a Rajya Sabha panel – are scheduled to hold meetings.

On the previous day on September 8, 12 meetings of parliamentary standing committees of the Lok Sabha, and five of Rajya Sabha committees are slated to take place.

The total strength of the electoral college – which consists of members of both Houses — is currently 782. It is being speculated that the meetings are planned in a manner so as to ensure maximum presence of MPs of both Houses during the Vice-Presidential polls.

The results of the election will be declared on the evening of September 9 after counting of ballot papers.

In Rajya Sabha, whose secretariat is conducting the V-P election, a meeting of the standing committee on transport is scheduled to be held on September 9. A meeting each of panels pertaining to Government Assurances, Women and Child as well as Sports & Youth Affairs, Health, Science & Technology and on Papers to be Laid will be held a day prior to the election.

In Lok Sabha, meetings of panels related to social justice, petroleum, rural development, subordinate legislation, petitions and water resources will be held on September 9. Besides, two meetings of committee related to energy, two of panel on railways, and one meeting each of coal & mines, chemicals, housing, estimates, IT, consumer affairs, finance and welfare of SCs & STs will be held on September 8.

While former Supreme Court Judge B Sudarshan Reddy is the Opposition’s candidate, the ruling NDA has selected Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan to contest for the V-P post.

The election to the post was necessitated after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned as the Vice-President, citing health reasons, on July 21. As per Article 66 of the Constitution of India, the Vice-President is elected by the MPs of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

For the upcoming V-P election, the electoral college consists of 233 elected members of Rajya Sabha (with five vacant seats), 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of Lok Sabha (with one vacant seat). Since, all the electors are members of both Houses of Parliament, the value of vote of each MP would be the same i.e. one.