Vice-President Election 2022: 'Abstain from voting,' TMC's letter to Suvendu Adhikari's father

Kolkata, Aug 06: Trinamool Congress (TMC) had decided to abstain from the vote, as they pointed out on 'not been consulted" on Margaret Alva's candidature.

TMC MP and Parliamentary Party leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay wrote to Sisir Adhikari, who is still an MP from TMC, informing him to abstain from voting as decided by the party.

Former Union Minister Sisir Adhikari, who is the father of Nandigram heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, had switched allegiance to the saffron party on March 21, 2021, ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections. He had followed his son's footsteps and joined the saffron party at Home Minister Amit Shah's rally at Egra where he said, "Save Bengal from atrocities, we are with you, our family is with you. Jai Siya Ram, Jai Bharat."

Polling to elect the next Vice President of India began at 10 am. The polling will continue till 5 pm, following which the counting of ballots will take place.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee and former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar (71) is pitted against joint Opposition candidate Margaret Alva (80).

With the ruling BJP having an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha and 91 members in the Rajya Sabha, Dhankhar has a clear edge over his rival. He is likely to succeed incumbent M Venkaiah Naidu, whose tenure ends on August 10.

All MPs of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, including nominated members, are entitled to vote in the vice presidential election.

The two Houses of Parliament together have a sanctioned strength of 788 MPs, of which there are eight vacancies in the Upper House.

Hence, 780 MPs are eligible to cast their ballot in this election.