New Delhi: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha on Saturday voted in favour of Jagdeep Dhankhar in the Vice-Presidential elections, as directed by Odisha Chief Minister and party president Naveen Patnaik.
NDA candidate Dhankhar is the clear frontrunner in the Vice-Presidential elections, voting for which is now under way. Polling, which began at 10 am on Saturday, will continue till 5 pm. Results are likely to be announced later in the evening.
The term of incumbent Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu ends on August 10.
Dhankhar, the former West Bengal Governor, is expected to win with over 500 votes, far higher than the 372 required for victory. While some media reports said Dhankar can expect 527 votes, some other reports said he will win with over 515 votes.
The Opposition’s Vice-Presidential nominee Margaret Alva is likely to get over 200 votes.
Who is supporting whom
Jagdeep Dhankar has the support of several non-NDA parties — Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Akali Dal and the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena.
Margaret Alva has the support of Congress, MK Stalin’s DMK, Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP), the Left parties, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the nine MPs of Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction.
The electoral college consists of 780 MPs — 543 Lok Sabha MPs and 245 Rajya Sabha MPs.
There are eight vacant seats in the Upper House while 39 Trinamool Congress MPs have decided to abstain from voting.
