The Election Commission of India on Friday announced that the election to elect the new Vice President of India will be held on September 9. As per a notification issued by the ECI, the counting will also take place on the same day.
The election has been necessitated due to sudden resignation of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on 21 July citing health concerns.
The last day for filing nominations for the Vice-Presidential election is August 21. Candidates can withdraw their candidature by August 25. The election will take place from 10 AM to 5 PM on 9th September, and votes will be counted after that.
As per the provision in constitution, election to the office of Vice-President will be held using secret ballot papers. The ECI stated that “There is no concept of open voting in this election and showing the ballot to anyone under any circumstances in the case of Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections is totally prohibited.”
It added that political parties cannot issue any whip to their MPs regarding the voting in the Vice-Presidential election.
As per the ECI, the voters in the election will be 233 elected and 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha and the 543 elected members of Lok Sabha. The Electoral College comprises of a total of 788 members of both Houses of Parliament. However, there are 782 members at present, as 5 Rajya Sabha and 1 Lok Sabha seats are vacant.
