BJP brass to meet on Sunday to pick Vice-Presidential candidate

The BJP parliamentary board is likely to meet on August 17 to finalise the name of the party-led ruling alliance's Vice-Presidential candidate.

The National Democratic Alliance has authorised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president J P Nadda to pick the Vice-Presidential candidate.

The last date of filing the nomination for the position is August 21.

Chief Ministers and deputy CMs of the BJP-led alliance are likely to be part of nomination-filing exercise by the alliance's candidate besides the Prime Minister and Union ministers.

Parliament's Monsoon session is reconvening from August 18 after a short recess, and the NDA candidate may attend a meeting of leaders of the BJP and its allies before filing his or her nomination, sources said.

Several sets of nomination will be filed by MPs in the NDA candidate's support, a leader said.

If the Opposition also names a candidate, a strong possibility, then the election will be held on September 9.

The NDA enjoys a comfortable majority in the electoral college, which includes members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and the victory of its candidate is a foregone conclusion in case of a contest.

The election has been necessitated due to the abrupt resignation of Jagdeep Dhakhar.