Jagdeep Dhankhar's exit | EC finalises Electoral College for vice presidential poll, schedule to be announced soon

New Delhi: The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the Vice President polls soon with the poll body finalising the electoral college for the exercise.

The election has become necessitated after the dramatic resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar on July 21 night citing health concerns.

In a statement on Thursday, the EC said it has finalised the Electoral College list for the Vice Presidential Election, 2025. The electoral college for the election of Vice-President comprises the elected members of the Rajya Sabha, nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and the elected members of the Lok Sabha, according to Article 66(1) of the Constitution.

These members are listed in a continuous serial order, arranged alphabetically based on the state and union territory of their respective Houses, it said.

"The Electoral College list will be available for purchase at a counter set up in the Election Commission of India from the date of notification, which is likely to be announced soon," it said.

The Lok Sabha has a strength of 543 and Rajya Sabha 245, taking the total to 788. However, there are five vacancies in Rajya Sabha and one in Lok Sabha. The EC, however, has officially announced how many electors are there in the electoral college.

According to the EC, an MP whose election has been set aside by the High Court in an election petition, but is continuing by virtue of an interim order of the High Court itself or of the Supreme Court granting limited stay of the order of setting aside of his election by the court is not entitled to vote at the election, though his name may have been included in the electoral college.

Under Rule 40 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974, the EC is required to maintain a list of members of the above referred Electoral College with their addresses corrected up to date.

On July 25, the EC appointed Rajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody as the returning officer for the poll. Rajya Sabha Joint Garima Jain and Director Vijay Kumar have also been appointed Assistant Returning Officers.

According to Article 324, the EC is mandated to conduct the election to the office of the Vice President of India. The election to the office of the Vice President is governed by The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 and the rules made thereunder, namely The Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974.

The election schedule is announced in the gazette and the last date of filing nominations would be fourteenth day after the date of publication of the notification. The date for the scrutiny of nominations will be a day after the last date for making nominations. The date of withdrawal of nominations will be two days after scrutiny. If any of these days fall on a public holiday, the succeeding day will be chosen.

"The date on which a poll shall, if necessary, be taken, which shall be a date not earlier than the fifteenth day after the last date for the withdrawal of the candidatures,” the law said. If one goes by this, the elections this time can be held only in September.