With backing of 587 members, Venkaiah Naidu set to be next Vice President of India

The election process is similar to the one deployed in the presidential poll. The VP too is elected by the electoral college comprising members of the both houses of Parliament.

Venkaiah Naidu seems to be heading for an impressive win in the elections to the next Vice President of India. After his candidature was announced, the BJP led NDA was expecting at least 488 votes for him in the electoral college. The elections will be held on August 5.

However with more parties coming forward to back him, Naidu is expected to win 587 out of the 787 votes in the electoral college. Unlike the Presidential elections for the VP polls, the members of the state legislative assemblies do not vote.

Naidu is expected to get the backing of almost all the southern parties. The AIADMK, TRS and the YSR Congress are set to back Naidu.

The fact that Naidu is heading for an impressive win was evident in the statement made by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. She had said that she is aware that the opposition does not have the sufficient numbers, but it is a battle that needs to be fought hard. The UPA fielded Gopalkrishna Gandhi as its candidate for the vice-presidential polls. Gandhi too had said that this is not about winning and losing.

How is the Vice President of India elected?

The election process is similar to the one deployed in the presidential poll. The VP too is elected by the electoral college comprising members of the both houses of Parliament.
However the only difference is that in the VP election the members of the state legislature are not part of the electoral college.

According to the Election Commission, the Electoral College for this year's election consists of the following members:

• From Rajya Sabha: 233 elected and 12 nominated members
• From Lok Sabha, 543 elected and 2 nominated.
• The total members in the Electoral College are 790

Vote value:

The value of each vote in the Vice-Presidential election is one. Ballot paper, containing names of the contesting candidate, is used for the election. The ballot paper doesn't contain any party symbol. It has two columns - one containing the name of the candidate and the second for marking the order of preference.

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