INDIA Bloc To Field Joint Candidate For Vice President; Kharge Seeks Consensus
While some prefer waiting for the BJP's nominee, unity is strong within the bloc, demonstrated by recent meetings and vows to combat alleged electoral malpractices.
New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) The INDIA bloc will put up a joint candidate for the vice presidential polls and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is reaching out to opposition parties to explore names and reach a consensus on it, sources said Sunday.
They said that there was a strong feeling in the bloc that opposition parties should not shy away from a contest to send a strong political message irrespective of the outcome.
Though there has not been any structured discussion on picking a candidate, backchannel talks are on among INDIA bloc partners to deliberate on names of possible candidates with Kharge reaching out to opposition parties for building a consensus.
There is consensus among parties that the INDIA bloc will put up a joint candidate for the vice presidential polls, Congress sources said.
However, a section in the opposition camp believes that the INDIA bloc must decide their candidate after the BJP announces its pick.
This comes at a time of heightened unity among INDIA bloc constituents who have vowed to fight against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged poll rigging.
In a show of unity, top INDIA bloc leaders held a dinner meeting at the residence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday and vowed to fight the electoral rolls' revision in Bihar as well as what they described as the "vote chori model" of the BJP-Election Commission.
This was the first physical meeting of top leaders of the opposition bloc since they last met in June 2024, soon after the Lok Sabha elections at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's residence.
Several leaders from 25 parties were present at the meeting, which included Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah, PDP's Mehbooba Mufti, SP's Akhilesh Yadav, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, Shiv Sena(UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, DMK's Tiruchi Siva and T R Baalu, CPI(M)'s M A Baby, CPI's D Raja, CPI(ML)'s Dipankar Bhattacharya and MNM chief Kamal Haasan.
During the meeting, Gandhi gave a presentation on the "vote chori model" being allegedly perpetrated by the BJP through the Election Commission.
Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal termed the meeting as one of the "most successful".
Asked whether the vice presidential election was also discussed, he had said, "There wasn't much discussion on the vice presidential election... There are other occasions for it".
Kharge will also host a dinner for INDIA bloc MPs on Monday.
In a sudden move, Jagdeep Dhankhar quit as vice president on the evening of August 4 citing medical reasons, though there have been consistent murmurs about other reasons behind his resignation.
The effective strength of both the Houses together is 781 and the winning candidate will require to win 391 votes in the election for the vice president, considering all eligible voters exercise their franchise. All members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including the nominated ones, vote in the vice presidential poll.
The NDA seems to have the numbers on its side with a strength of around 422 members.
The Election Commission last Thursday issued a notification for the September 9 vice presidential poll, kickstarting the exercise to elect Dhankhar's successor.
Rajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody, the returning officer for the election, received three nomination papers, which were rejected for not being in order.
According to the notification, August 21 is the last date for filing nominations and the documents will be scrutinised on August 22. The last date for the withdrawal of nominations is August 25.
According to constitutional provisions, in case of a mid-term poll, the incumbent gets a full five-year term.
A person cannot be elected as the vice president unless he is a citizen of India, has completed 35 years of age and is qualified for election as a member of Rajya Sabha.
A person is also not eligible if he holds any office of profit under the government of India or a state government or any subordinate local authority.
(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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