New Delhi: Former West Bengal governor and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Tuesday has been named as the opposition's choice for the post of Vice President election for which, if necessary, is scheduled to be held on August 05.
Gandhi's name was the only name discussed when 18 opposition parties met today to decide on their candidate for the vice presidential poll, the sources said, according to PTI.
The JD(U), which had broken ranks with the opposition over the presidential poll, also attended the meeting which chose Mahatma Gandhi's grandson to be its nominee for vice president.
While Sharad Yadav represented the JD(U), other leaders at the meeting included Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, TMC's Derek O' Brien, CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, NC's Omar Abdullah, SP's Naresh Agarwal and BSP's Satish Chandra Mishra.
Polling for the vice president's post will take place on August 5 if required. The votes will be counted the same evening.
The term of office of Mohd. Hamid Ansari, Vice-President of India, is up to 10th August 2017. An election to fill the vacancy to be caused by the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing Vice-President needs to be completed before the expiration of the term of the present incumbent.
The electoral college which elects the vice president, who is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, consists of elected and nominated members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.
The total strength of the two Houses is 790, but there are some vacancies.
In the 545-member Lok Sabha, the BJP has 281 members. The NDA led by BJP, has 338 members.
In the 243-member Rajya Sabha, the BJP as of now has 56 members, while the Congress with 59 is the single largest party. With its recent wins in the recent assembly polls, the BJP is set to emerge as the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha too next year and the NDA's tally would be close to 100.
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