The parliamentary board of the Bharatiya Janata Party will meet on Sunday to finalise the name of the National Democratic Alliance’s vice presidential candidate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the meeting at the party headquarters with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, party president J.P. Nadda and other senior leaders in attendance.
The NDA has authorised Modi and Nadda to pick the candidate for the second-highest constitutional post, which fell vacant after the surprise resignation of Jagdeep Dhankar on July 21.
The victory of the NDA candidate is a foregone conclusion in the case of a contest since the alliance enjoys a comfortable majority in the electoral college, which includes members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
If the opposition fields its candidate, the election will be held on September 9. The last date of filing the nomination is August 21.
According to reports, the ruling front is keen on fielding a candidate from the backwards or extremely backwards communities as Dhankhar’s successor. Given the precedence, the BJP is likely to back a veteran leader with a strong ideological leaning.
According to reports, Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena and Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan are among the list of probable candidates.
The names of Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, Karnataka Governor Thawarchand Gehlot, Sikkim Governor Om Mathur, and Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha are also doing the rounds.
The combined strength of both houses of parliament is 786, and the winning candidate will need to win 394 votes in the election for a vice president, considering all eligible voters exercise their franchise.
In the Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA enjoys the support of 293 members, whereas it has the support of 129 members in the Rajya Sabha (assuming that the nominated members vote in support of the NDA nominee). This brings its total support to 422 members out of 786.