Vice Presidential Election: Here's How Numbers Stack Up For Jagdeep Dhankhar And Margaret Alva

Vice Presidential Election 2022: With TMC announcing that it would abstain from voting in the elections and eight Rajya Sabha seats vacant, here is what the electoral college arithmetic shows.

Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is likely to sail through the Vice President elections, scheduled on August 6, as the numbers are heavily stacked in his favour. Dhankhar has been pitted against Opposition's joint candidate Margaret Alva. The incumbent Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu's term ends on August 10.  

The Vice President is elected by the members of the electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament (233 elected members of Rajya Sabha, 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of Lok Sabha = 788).

Of the 788 members, TMC, which has 23 MPs in Lok Sabha and 13 in Rajya Sabha, has announced that it would abstain from voting in the elections while eight Rajya Sabha seats are vacant. This brings down the total strength to 744. The majority mark in this case becomes 373.

As per the current situation, the BJP alone has enough votes to ensure that Dhankhar crosses the majority mark. As per the electoral college arithmetic, Dhankhar has two-thirds of votes in his favour as the BJP by itself has 303 members in the Lok Sabha and 91 in the Rajya Sabha.

Dhankhar, a Jat leader from Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district ith socialist background, is likely to get 472 votes while Margaret Alva is expected bag 216 votes.

With some parties yet to declare their choice, 36 votes may go either way. Some regional parties like the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Telugu Desham Party have not yet shown their cards. Even then, Dhankhar would win by a comfortable margin.

Dhankhar, who has practiced in both Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court of India, has served as an MP and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990. He took over as the West Bengal Governor in July 2019, and has been in the news for his frequent tussle with Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

Margaret Alva, who entered politics over 5 decades ago in 1969 by joining the Indian National Congress, too has a Rajasthan connection. She was the Rajasthan Governor from May 2012 to August 2014. She had also been the Governor of Uttarakhand, Goa and Gujarat. First elected to Rajya Sabha in 1974, Alva was re-elected in 1980, 1986 and 1992. In the mid 80s, Alva served as Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs.

(With inputs from Trithesh Nandan)