On 24th July 2022, Assam’s chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in one of his tweets, took a dig at Margaret Alva – the opposition’s candidate for Vice-President election. Quoting a tweet by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in which he mentioned Margaret Alva kickstarting her election campaign for the polls by talking with various state chief ministers including Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Assam chief minister said that he politely informed Margaret Alva that he is not a member of the electoral college and therefore he can’t vote in the VP elections.
Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Smt. Margaret Alva took charge of her campaign office at 1, Pt Ravi Shankar Shukla Lane today. She spoke to CM Assam, CM Karnataka, & CM Delhi as part of her Vice Presidential campaign. The conversations were very cordial & friendly given her long political career & associations.”
Quoting Congress leader’s tweet, Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted, “Smt. Margaret Alva spoke to me this morning. I politely told her that I’m not a member of the electoral college. As such I have no role in the election of Vice President of India.” Interestingly, Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier shared the same tweet and deleted it. Later he tagged Margaret Alva in his tweet and posted it again.
The Vice-President is elected by an electoral college consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting in such election is by secret ballot. Therefore, only the members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are voters in the VP polls, members of state assemblies don’t vote in this election, ulike the presidential elections.
It is notable that speaking to chief ministers in different states and seeking support from them, therefore, does not make any sense in this election unless the chief minister has some decisive role in his party to guide the Members of Parliament from that particular party. Because it is only the MPs of the parliament who can vote in the election of the Vice-President of India.
Leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Navin Patnaik, KC Rao, YSR Rajshekhar Reddy, and Mamata Banerjee are not only chief ministers but decisive figures in their respective political parties. So talking to these chief ministers holds separate importance in the election of the Vice-President of India. That is not the case with Assam’s chief minister and Karnataka CM, as they are BJP CMs, and not part of BJP’s central leadership.
After the tweet by Himanta Biswa Sarma, Margaret Alva posted a response on Twitter, saying that she is reaching out to leaders from various political parties as part of her campaign for the Vice Presidential election. She tweeted that she is aware of of the electoral college for the elections, but talked to Sarma as an old friend.
“Mr Sarma is an old friend & we’ve worked together long enough for him to know that after 30 yrs. in Parliament, I know what constitutes the electoral college,” she tweeted. Margaret Alva added that she had a nice chat with Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Opposition candidate Margaret Alva is contesting against NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar in the polls, scheduled for 6th August. The results will be declared on the same day.