NDA candidate for Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, sharing a light moment with other MPs as he arrives to cast his vote in the Vice Presidential Election, in New Delhi on Saturday. (PTI Photo by Manvender Vashist)
NDA nominee and former union minister Venkaiah Naidu is taking on former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the candidate put forward by the Opposition for the post of Vice-President of the country. The voting began at 10 am Saturday and ended at 5 pm this evening. Counting of votes began at 6 pm, after which the results are likely to be announced after 7 pm. While Naidu has the support of the NDA parties along with AIADMK, TRS and YSRCP, Gandhi will get the votes of MPs belonging to the Congress, RJD, JD(U), NCP, Left and other smaller parties. In the Vice-Presidential election, members of both Houses of Parliament vote in a closed ballot.
VICE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION LIVE UPDATES
6:20 pm: Yesterday, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien had said Venkaiah Naidu would win the election. During the parliamentary proceedings, he had said, “He (Venkaiah) is going to be my Chairman.” The Vice President of India is also the Chairman of the Upper House.
6:00 pm: Counting of votes begins. Results likely to be out after 7.00 pm.
5:55 pm: Here’s a quick tally of the missing votes. There were 785 MPs eligible to vote, but only 771 cast their votes. 14 were absent, including two from the BJP — Sanwarlal Jat and Vijay Goel who are hospitalised — two from Congress, two from the IUML, four from Trinamool Congress, one from the NCP, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss from Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and two Independents.
5:45 pm: Two BJP leaders, Sanwarlal Jat and Vijay Goel, could not vote in the election held today as they are hospitalised, reports PTI.
5.35 pm: Sachin Tendulkar who made a surprise appearance in Parliament last week, cast his vote in the Vice-Presidential elections today. Actor Rekha, who has also been criticised for her low attendance in the Rajya Sabha, cast her vote. Three nominated members, boxer Mary Kom and BJP leaders Roopa Ganguly and Subramanian Swamy voted as well. Click here to see pictures of the voting process.
5:30 pm: Two MPs from the Muslim League, PK Kunhalikutty and Abdul Wahab, were barred from voting in the election as they arrived at Parliament House 10 minutes after polls closed. Kunhalikutty told The Indian Express he left Kozhikode, Kerala, at 7.30 am by an Air India flight but was stuck in Mumbai airport for 5 hours.
Muslim League MPs @PKKunhalikutty & Abdul Wahab could not vote in #VicePresidentialElection. They came 10 mts late. @IndianExpress
— Manoj C G (@manojcg4u) August 5, 2017
5:25 pm: After casting her vote, MP and actress Hema Malini says everyone loves NDA’s candidate Venkaiah Naidu. Watch:
#WATCH: BJP MP Hema Malini talks about NDA’s #VicePresidential candidate #VenkaiahNaidu, says everybody loves him a lot & he is most capable pic.twitter.com/W25jsGwGRU
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 5, 2017
5:20 pm: Couting of votes will begin at 6 pm. 771 votes were cast, so that shouldn’t take long!
5:00 pm: Voting for the Vice-Presidential elections has come to an end. Counting will begin shortly, after which the results will be announced. A total of 771 out of 785 MPs cast their vote today. Polling percentage was 98.21 per cent.
4:55 pm: Opposition candidate and former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi today said the fight today is based on constitutional principles. “NDA’s candidate (Venkaiah Naidu) is an experienced person, there is only technically competition between us and nothing personal,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.
Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar after casting his vote at the Parliament House. (Express Photo/Prem Nath Pandey)
4:50 pm: In an opinion piece in The Indian Express today, Chakshu Roy, head of outreach PRS Legislative Research, writes, “The biggest challenge for the new vice president will be to assume a non-partisan role while managing the functioning of the House. The new VP will need to have the confidence of MPs on both sides of the aisle. He will have to play the arbiter between political parties and set the benchmark for non-partisan conduct.” You can read the entire piece here.
4:40 pm: In case you’re wondering, there are 790 members in the electoral college comprising of elected and nominated MPs in the Lok Saba and Rajya Sabha. However, there are two vacancies in each house and one BJP Lok Sabha MP is barred from voting. Hence, there are 785 members eligible to vote in today’s election. So far, 761 have.
4:15 pm: Here’s a quick roundup if you’re just joining us. Polling for the Vice-Presidential elections began at 10 am this morning and will conclude at 5 pm. Till 3 pm, nearly 97 per cent voting or 761 of 785 members had voted. The results are likely to be announced by 7 pm. Members of both Houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha are eligible to cast their votes. NDA candidate and former union minister Venkaiah Naidu is pitted against Opposition nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh casts his vote while I&B Minister Smriti Irani awaits her turn. (Express Photo/Premnath Pandey)
3:50 pm: So far, there has been 96.94 per cent polling in the elections, Assistant Returning Officer Mukul Pandey is quoted as saying by PTI.
3:30 pm: A picture of Gopalkrishna Gandhi with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other party leaders
(Express photo by Premnath Pandey)
3:10 pm: Update says 761 votes have now been cast in the VP election. Less than 2 hours to go before counting begins.
3 pm: So, over 90 per cent of the votes have been cast till now. Polling will go on till 5 pm.
1:45 pm: A total of 713 votes have been polled till now. The total number of MPs who are eligible to vote number 790.
1:15 pm: Everybody loves him (Naidu) a lot. He is most capable and he knows (the) entire Parliament…the whole politics, says BJP MP Hema Malini
1:10 pm: Actress and Rajya Sabha MP Rekha, who’s almost never seen in the House, turned up to vote in the VP election.
#Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Rekha and Lok Sabha MP Dimple Yadav after casting their vote for #VicePresidentialElection at the Parliament. pic.twitter.com/TaAOutDyjb
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 5, 2017
So did Sachin, by the way. Speaking to reporters after voting, he said, “Not only here but whenever voting takes place, every citizen should vote.”
12:30 pm: Read about the ‘dummy’ vote that was held Friday by the NDA before the election and how many MPs failed? Well, read the story here
12:10 pm: Pictures of Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh arriving to cast their votes
#VicePresidentialElection: Former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress VP Rahul Gandhi, former deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani at Parliament. pic.twitter.com/7WokgSGHd3
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 5, 2017
12 noon: How are the numbers stacked?
The NDA has 337 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 80 in the Rajya Sabha. Naidu is expected to get 484 of the total 790 votes — parties like AIADMK, YSRCP and TRS, which have extended their support, together account for 67 MPs.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi will get votes of MPs of Congress, NCP, Trinamool, SP, BSP, JD(U), RJD, DMK and other smaller parties which are aligned against the NDA.
11:10 am: Gopalkrishna Gandhi dismissed reports of the contest being ‘one-sided’, cites instance of Meira Kumar getting so many votes in the Presidential election.
11:00 am: Manohar Parrikar told reporters that he will miss him in one place although they will see more of Naidu in another place as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Meanwhile, here’s a picture of PM Modi casting his vote.
Voted in the 2017 Vice Presidential elections. pic.twitter.com/CsHs7VmJYP
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 5, 2017
10:45 am: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has also voted.
10:30 am: Special pens are being given to the MPs to write their choice on the ballot papers. NDA MPs have been asked not to bring their pens for the election.
10:15 am: Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, MoS Home Kiren Rijiju, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have also cast their votes.
10:05 am: Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has also cast his vote. Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who has not vacated his Rajya Sabha seat yet, also voted.
The voting will go on till 5 in the evening. The counting will then begin and the final result will come in by 6:30-7 pm.
10 am: Naidu has now reached the Parliament complex where he will cast his vote. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also at the spot. In the presidential election, he was the first one to cast his vote.
9:50 am: We are hearing that members of both Houses are already lining up to vote in the VP election. Remember, this is a closed ballot.
9:43 am: Naidu, on his way to the voting booth in Parliament, told reporters that he was confident about his chances. “I am known to all members of Parliament & they are known to me,thats why I’m not even campaigning,” he told ANI. Naidu, who resigned from the BJP and the union cabinet, said he was a non-party man and that he believed that leaders from other parties will support him. Read more here.
9:40 am: The voting will begin at 10 am. Only the members of both Houses of Parliament are allowed to vote. It will be a closed ballot. The voting is likely to take place along expected party lines. Since the NDA has a numerical majority in the Lok Sabha, the stakes are tilted towards Naidu. However, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the former governor of West Bengal, is expected to give a tough fight.
9:30 am: Welcome to the live blog where we track all the updates from the vice-presidential election happening today in Parliament. The voting and counting will take place today.
(With inputs from agencies)
