नवीनतम
Vice President poll to take place on Sept 9
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced that the election to the Vice-President of India will take place on September 9. The latest development came a day after the poll panel had finalised the electoral college list for the election to the second-highest office in the country.
The post of the Vice-President fell vacant following the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar from the post. According to the schedule announced by the ECI, the election for the Vice-Presidential election will take place on September 9. The voting will be held from 10 am to 5 pm. The counting of votes will take place on the same day.
The notification for the election will be issued on August 7, and the last date for filing nominations is August 21. The scrutiny of nominations will take place on August 22. As per the schedule of the poll panel, the last date of withdrawal of candidature is August 25.
The ECI under Article 324 is mandated to conduct the election to the office of the Vice-President of India. As per Article 66(1) of the Constitution, the Vice-President of India is elected by an electoral college comprising the elected members of the Rajya Sabha, nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and the elected members of the Lok Sabha.
In a communique, the ECI on Friday said, "For 2025, 17th Vice-Presidential Election, the electoral college consists of: 233 elected members of Rajya Sabha (presently 05 seats are vacant), 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of Lok Sabha (presently one seat is vacant). The electoral college comprises a total of 788 members (presently, 782 members) of both Houses of Parliament. Since, all the electors are members of both Houses of Parliament, the value of vote of each Member of Parliament would be same i.e. 1 (one)."
Article 66 (1) of the Constitution provides that the election shall be held in accordance with the system of Proportional Representation by means of the single transferable vote, and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot, it said.
"In this system, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates. Preference can be marked in the international form of Indian numerals, in Roman form, or in the form in any recognised Indian languages. Preference has to be marked in figures only and shall not be indicated in words. The elector can mark as many preferences as the number of candidates. While the marking of the first preference is compulsory for the ballot paper to be valid, other preferences are optional," the poll panel said.
As per the schedule of the election, the nomination paper of a candidate must be delivered to the Returning Officer at New Delhi in the place to be specified by him by a public notice that will be issued by him (in Form-1 appended to the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974), and at no other place, it said.
"Under the law, nomination (in prescribed Form 3) can be filed either by the candidate himself or by any of his proposers or seconders between 11 am to 3 pm. Nomination cannot be filed on public holidays. A nomination paper of a candidate has to be subscribed by at least 20 electors as proposers and by at least other 20 electors as seconders. No elector shall subscribe more than one nomination paper at the same election, as either a proposer or a seconder and is governed by Section 5B (5) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952," the ECI said, adding a candidate can file maximum of four nomination papers.
The ECI has issued a booklet that broadly covers the Constitutional provisions relating to the election to the Vice-President of India. The booklet titled "Election to the Office of Vice-President of India, 2025" was prepared with an aim to enhance awareness among the general public about the ensuing Vice-Presidential Election.
The booklet broadly covers the Constitutional provisions relating to Vice-Presidential Election, composition of the electoral college, eligibility conditions for the candidates, important provisions on candidature, framing of the election schedule, appointment of the Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officers, fixing of the place of poll, system of voting, the method of counting of votes and the provision regarding disputes over the election. It also includes brief notes on all the past 16 Vice-Presidential elections held from 1952 to 2022.
