Vice President Election 2022: ‘Like Odisha stood behind Murmu,’ an appeal from Karnataka Congress

Bengaluru, Aug 06: Karnataka Congress on Saturday as Odisha stood behind Draupadi Murmu who became the President of India last month, all Karnataka MPs should vote for Margaret Alva, a Kannadiga.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress in Karnataka wrote,'' All Karnataka MPs, across party lines, should stand together and unitedly vote for a Kannadiga, Smt. Margaret Alva as VP, just as all of Orissa stood behind Smt Murmu when she was the candidate for President. It will be a matter of pride for Kannadigas.''

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.