The election to the post of Vice President will be held on August 6, the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday announced.
As per the poll panel, the notification for the election to decide the successor of M Venkaiah Naidu will be issued on July 5 and the last date for filing of nomination papers will be July 19. The votes will be counted on August 6.
Naidu’s term as Vice President ends on August 10. The BJP-led NDA has a clear edge in the poll in which the members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, including nominated members, are eligible to vote.
As per Article 68 of the Constitution, the election to fill the vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing Vice President is required to be completed before the expiration of the term. At a meeting also attended by Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar finalised the schedule for the Vice Presidential poll.
The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on July 20 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is July 22.
For the 16th Vice-Presidential Election, the Electoral College consists of 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha, 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha. The voting is done by the secret ballot.
Open voting and showing the ballot to anyone under any circumstances in the case of presidential and vice-presidential elections are totally prohibited, the EC cautioned, adding that parties cannot issue whip to its MPs in the matter of voting.
A nomination paper of a candidate has to be subscribed by at least 20 electors as proposers and by at least other 20 electors as seconders. An elector can subscribe to only one nomination paper of a candidate as either a proposer or a seconder. A candidate can file a maximum of four nomination papers. The security deposit for the election is Rs 15,000.