Candidates of NDA, Oppn to be finalised by Sunday
NEW DELHI: As the term of office of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu comes to an end on August 10, the political corridors have geared up for the Vice Presidential election, scheduled for the next month. However, neither the NDA nor the opposition has announced their candidate yet, but sources said that they will finalise their candidates by end of this week.
On one hand, Congress stalwart and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge confirmed that all non-NDA, like-minded parties would meet on Sunday and hold a discussion on who will be their joint candidate for the post of vice president, as Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi has given a go-ahead for a joint opposition candidate. The meeting is likely to be held at the Parliament in the afternoon as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has already called for an allparty meeting on July 17 at 11:00 am. MPs from all parties are likely to attend the meeting as the Presidential election is scheduled on the subsequent day- July 18.
On July 16 and 17, a two-day session has also been called by the party top brass for all 303 Lok Sabha members where
BJP chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will train the MPs on how to cast vote for the Presidential election
On the other hand, sources from BJP said that the Parliamentary Board meeting is also likely to take place on that day in either the Parliament annexe building or at the party headquarters as all the Members of Parliament of NDA parties will be present in the capital city. The meeting will be held to finalise the NDA Vice Presidential candidate, it added.
Besides, on July 16 and 17, a two-day session has also been called by the party top brass for all 303 Lok Sabha members where BJP chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will train the MPs on how to cast vote for the Presidential election. The incumbent party do not want a single vote to be wasted this time.
The Parliamentary Board is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This also includes the national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, Union Home Minister and former party president Amit Shah, other Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) B L Santosh.
Article 63 of the Constitution states that “there shall be a Vice-President of India.” Under Article 64, the Vice-President “shall be ex officio Chairman of the Council of the States” (Rajya Sabha).
Though sources from the opposition corridor said that a woman candidate can likely be their choice, however, nothing has been finalised yet. The election has already been notified by the Election Commission and the last date for filing nominations is July 19.