Election to pick next Vice-President on Sept 9, says EC

The election to the post of Vice-President will be held on September 9, the Election Commission announced on Friday. It said the notification for the process would be issued on August 7, while the last date for filing the nomination papers would be August 21.

The results will be announced on the polling day, it added.

The election was necessitated after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from the post on July 21, citing health reasons.

The Vice-President is elected by an electoral college comprising the elected members and nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and the elected members of the Lok Sabha.

On July 21, Dhankhar stepped down, a little more than two years ahead of the end of his tenure. His term was to end on August 10, 2027. Officially, he cited medical reasons for his exit but sources indicated at a deeper unease, possibly even a breakdown of trust between him and the Centre that he once strongly defended.

The tipping point came when Dhankhar refused to align with the government's stand on the impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma.

According to Clause 2 of Article 68 of the Constitution, an election to fill a vacancy to the office of the Vice-President occurring due to his death, resignation, or removal, or otherwise, should be held "as soon as possible". The person elected to fill the vacancy will be entitled to hold office "for the full term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office".

Rajya Sabha secretary general PC Mody has been appointed as the returning officer for the election.

The ruling BJP-led NDA has a comfortable edge in the ensuing poll.

The 543-member Lok Sabha has one vacant seat — Basirhat in West Bengal — while there are five vacancies in the 245-member Rajya Sabha.

Of the five vacancies in the Rajya Sabha, four are from Jammu and Kashmir and one from Punjab. The seat from Punjab was vacated after AAP leader Sanjeev Arora quit following his election to the state Assembly in a bypoll last month.

The effective strength of both the Houses together is 782 and the winning candidate will require 391 votes, considering that all eligible voters exercise their franchise.

In the Lok Sabha, the NDA enjoys the support of 293 of the 542 members. The ruling alliance has the support of 129 members in the Rajya Sabha (effective strength 240), assuming that the nominated members vote in support of the NDA nominee. The ruling alliance has the support of 422 members.