With backing of 488 members, Naidu set to become next Vice President of India

The members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha constitute the electoral college that elects the vice president.

Venkaiah Naidu the NDA's candidate for the vice presidential election is heading for a comfortable win. Naidu was selected by the NDA to take on the opposition's candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the VP poll to be held on August 5.

Naidu is expected to win 485 of votes in the electoral college which has 788 members.

The strength of the electoral was brought down to 788 from 790 after Vinod Khanna and Anil Madhav Dave of the BJP passed away recently. With 488 members backing Naidu he is headed for a comfortable win with 60 per cent of the votes in his kitty.

The members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha constitute the electoral college that elects the vice president. The NDA's strength in the 544-member Lok Sabha (reduced by one following the demise of Vinod Khanna) is 337, while it has 77 MPs out of the total 244 in the Upper House.

Three non-NDA parties- the AIADMK, TRS and YSR Congress- have also announced their support to Naidu, taking the number of lawmakers backing him up by 54 in the Lok Sabha and 17 in Rajya Sabha.

In the NDA, the BJP's current strength is 281 in the Lower House followed by 18, 16, six and four of the Shiv Sena, TDP, LJP and SAD. In the Rajya Sabha, the BJP's strength is 56 followed by six of TDP, and three each of Shiv Sena and SAD.

OneIndia News