Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi:National Democratic Alliance’s Vice Presidential candidate Venkaiah Naidu and Opposition nominee Gopal Krishna Gandhi filed their nomination on Tuesday. In a show of strength for Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, brigade of NDA Ministers and leaders accompanied the former Union Minister for filing his nomination paper. Similarly, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party vice president Rahul Gandhi and leaders of 18 opposition parties accompanied the former West Bengal governor during filing of his nomination papers.
While Union Minister Naidu enjoys the support of Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies, former West Bengal governor Gandhi is backed by 18 opposition parties for the coveted post. A Vice President is also the Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
Ahead of filing of his nomination paper, Naidu resiged as the Union Minister. Union Minister Narendra Tomar got additional charge of Ministry of Urban Development. Textile Minister Smriti Irani got additional charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. “I had told my colleagues that I want to see Prime Minister Naredra Modi come back again in 2019 and then I will call it off and join social service. But destiny decided otherwise. Finally after discussion, I have agreed. I have withdrawn myself from party, do not belong to BJP now,” Naidu said.
The Vice Presidential election will be held on August 5 and the result will be declared on the same day. An electoral college consisting of 790 MPs of the two Houses of Parliament — 245 MPs from Rajya Sabha and 545 from Lok Sabha — are eligible to cast their vote.
Naidu clearly has an upper edge in the election as the BJP and its allies form a majority with 410 members. His nomination will also be advantageous as the BJP is in minority in Rajya Sabha and is being cornered by the Opposition during debates.
In the 2012 polls, the incumbent Vice President Dr Hamid Ansari won with a mandate of 490 votes, with BJP’s Jaswant Singh receiving the remaining 238 out of the 736 votes polled. Ansari term ends on August 10. He has served on the post for two consecutive terms from August 11, 2007 to August 10, 2012 and was re-elected as the 14th vice president on August 11, 2012.
