Vice President elections: Some interesting facts

The Vice President can be terminated before the completion of fixed five-year term, either by resignation or by removal by the President.

The Vice Presidential elections is being held today. It is a contest between the NDA's Venkaiah Naidu and UPA's Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

Naidu served as the Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Urban Development and Information and Broadcasting in the Modi Cabinet. He has also served as the BJP national president from 2002 to 2004. Earlier, Naidu was the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural Development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee NDA government.

Gandhi is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. As a former Indian Administrative Service officer, he served as Secretary to the President of India and as High Commissioner to South Africa and Sri Lanka, and has served in other administrative and diplomatic posts. He was also the governor of West Bengal.

The Vice President is the 'ex-officio' Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. The VP has a term of five years.

The election for the Vice President is conducted through a secret ballot. Members of the Electoral College, consisting of Members of the both Houses of Parliament including the nominated members of Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha vote in these elections.

A person is eligible for election as Vice-President if they: a) are a citizen of India; b) have completed the age of 35 years; c) are qualified for election as a member of the Council of States (Article 66). A person will not be eligible for election as Vice-President if they hold any office of profit under the Central or state government or under any local authority subject to the control of any of these governments. Once elected, the Vice President still isn't allowed to hold such an office.

A candidate needs 20 electors as proposers and at least another 20 electors as seconders for their nomination. The candidate also must make a security deposit of Rs 15,000.

In case of the death or impeachment or resignation of the President, the vice-president becomes the acting President as the office of the head of the nation cannot be kept vacant, and stays on the post for a maximum period of six months to perform all the functions of the President.

The Vice President can be terminated before the completion of fixed five-year term, either by resignation or by removal by the President. There is no formal process of impeachment for the removal of the Vice President.

The Vice President receives the salary of the Chairman of the Council of States, which presently amounts to Rs 1,25,000 per month. Unlike the President, the Vice President is not allotted any special residential privileges while in office.

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