New Delhi, July 22: After Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from the post of Vice President late on Monday night, speculations have started about the election of this post. The Election Commission can start the process of Vice President election at any time.
Meanwhile, the Congress has also started looking for its candidate for the election of the post of Vice President. On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Rajya Sabha and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said in a conversation with the media that Congress is neither happy nor sad about the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar. What was to happen has happened. Now election is to be held for this post. For this, the government will issue a notification. Congress will field its candidate for this post. We will prepare for this.
On the ongoing deadlock in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said that the government does not want to hold a meeting of Parliament. As soon as the meeting starts, the assembly is adjourned within a minute. The opposition wants to hold a discussion in the House on many issues including Pahalgam and Operation Sindoor. But the ruling party itself does not give any information. The time for the discussion should be fixed. It should be told when the Prime Minister will be in the House and will listen to the discussion.
It is noteworthy that on Monday, Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from the post of Vice President. In his resignation sent to President Draupadi Murmu, he has said that now he will give priority to his health.
Dhankhar said in his letter to the President that according to Article 67 (A) of the Constitution, he is resigning from the post of Vice President of India with immediate effect. Dhankhar took over as Vice President in August 2022. In such a situation, his tenure was till 2027.
NDA has sufficient number of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs vote in the election of Vice President. Apart from this, nominated members of Rajya Sabha can also vote. There are 542 members in the Lok Sabha with a total of 543 members. At the same time, 5 seats are vacant in the Rajya Sabha of 245 members and there are 240 members.
According to the Constitution, in case the Vice President resigns, dies or is not in office due to any other reason, elections should be held as soon as possible. In such a situation, the Election Commission can issue a notification for the election at any time. In case of election for the post of Vice President, the NDA has a direct upper hand in the number game. Margaret Alva was defeated in the last election.
On July 17, 2022, the UPA alliance and some non-UPA parties declared Margaret Alva as the candidate for the post of Vice President. Jagdeep Dhankhar won the election by defeating opposition candidate Margaret Alva by 528 votes.