Election for Vice President to be held on August 6

The polling to elect the next vice president will be held on August 6, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday.

The votes will be counted immediately after polling and the result will be declared on the same day – four days before incumbent M Venkaiah Naidu’s tenure in the office of the vice president will come to its end.

The EC announced the schedule of the vice-presidential election, even as the time for filing nomination for the presidential poll ended on Wednesday, with altogether 115 candidates, including Droupadi Murmu of the ruling BJP-led NDA and Yashwant Sinha nominated by the Opposition parties. The polling to elect the new president will take place on July 18.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey had a meeting before announcing the schedule of the polling for the 16th vice presidential elections. The EC will announce the notification for the election on July 5 and the candidates will be allowed to file nominations till July 19. The last date for withdrawing nomination has been set as July 22. The polling will take place from 10 am to 5 pm on July 6 – followed by counting of votes and declaration of results on the same day.

The electoral college to elect the vice president consists of 788 members of both Houses of Parliament – 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha, 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of Lok Sabha. The Article 66 (1) of the Constitution provides that the election shall be held in accordance with the system of Proportional Representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot.