Explained: How the vice-president of India is elected

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Aug 06: The vice-presidential election will be fought by the NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankar and opposition nominee Margaret Alva. Polling would take place in Parliament House between 10 am and 5 pm.

The votes will be counted on the same day and the next vice-president will take oath of office on August 11 a day after the term of incumbent V-P Venkaiah Naidu comes to an end.

The V-P is elected by an electoral college. Members of both Houses of Parliament make up the electoral college. The election is conducted by using the proportional representation system and a single transferable vote and polling is held through a secret ballot.

While the nominated members cannot vote in the Presidential election, they can however do so in the case of the V-P. The Rajya Sabha. Has 233 members and 12 nominated ones. In the case of the Lok Sabha there are 543 MPs and 2 nominated members. In all the number of MPs who will vote is 790.

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A candidate would need 20 electors as proposers and at least another 20 electors as seconders for the nomination. The candidate would also have to make a security deposit of Rs 15,000.

To contest a V-P election a person must be at least 35 years old. They must also be an Indian citizen and fulfil all requirements for membership in the Rajya Sabha. If a person holds a profit making position with the government of India or state government they would not be eligible to be vice-president.

During the counting the number of first votes received by each candidate is determined. The calculated numbers are added together, the total divided by two and one is added to the quotient, disregarding any remainder. The resulting number is the quota required for a candidate to run in the elections.

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The candidate is declared elected if the total number of votes credited to any candidate at the end of the first or any subsequent count is equal to or greater than the quota.