Elections for the post of Vice President of India are to be held today (September 9). While the BJP-led NDA has fielded CP Radhakrishnan as its candidate this time, the opposition All India Alliance has fielded B. Sudarshan Reddy. According to the program released by the Election Commission, voting will take place between 10.00 am and 5.00 pm at the polling stations set as per the rules. After this, the counting of votes will take place.
It is worth noting that Jagdeep Dhankhar had submitted his resignation to President Draupadi Murmu on July 21. Since then, the post of Vice President has been vacant. The Election Commission had issued a notification to conduct the Vice Presidential election on August 7.
Who votes in the Vice Presidential election?
In the Vice Presidential election, 233 elected MPs of the Rajya Sabha, 12 nominated MPs in the Rajya Sabha, and 543 MPs of the Lok Sabha can cast their votes. A total of 788 such people can cast their votes. However, when the Election Commission announces the dates for the Vice Presidential election, it counts all the existing members in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
How is voting done in the Vice Presidential election?
The process of the Vice Presidential election is mentioned in Article 66 of the Constitution. This election is done through the proportional representation method, which is completely different from the voting process of Lok Sabha or Assembly elections. Voting in the Vice Presidential election is done through the Single Transferable Vote system. In simple words, the voter in this election has to vote on the basis of preference. For example, he writes his first choice candidate as one, second choice as two, and similarly writes his priority number in front of other candidates on the ballot paper. This entire process is done through the secret ballot method. The voter has to write their preference only in the form of Roman numerals. To write this, a special pen provided by the Election Commission has to be used.
After this, it is seen who has been given the second priority among the votes given first priority to the candidate who is out of the race. Then these second-priority votes are transferred to the accounts of other candidates. After getting these votes, if the votes of any candidate become equal to or more than the quota number, then that candidate is declared the winner.
If no candidate is elected even at the end of the second round, then the process continues. The candidate who gets the fewest votes is eliminated. The ballot papers giving him the first priority and the ballot papers he got during the second counting are checked again, and it is seen who has been given the next priority among them.
Then that priority is transferred to the respective candidates. This process continues, and the candidates who get the fewest votes will keep getting eliminated until the number of votes received by any one candidate becomes equal to the quota.
How different is the Vice President's election from the Presidential election?
In the Vice Presidential election, members of both houses of Parliament cast their votes. These also include nominated members of the Rajya Sabha. In the Presidential election, elected MPs and MLAs of all the states vote. Nominated MPs cannot vote in the Presidential election, but this is not the case in the Vice Presidential election. Such members can also vote in the Vice Presidential election.
Why is EVM not used in the Vice Presidential election?
An Electronic Voting Machine plays an important role in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Through this, the choice of crores of voters is counted safely and quickly, but it is not used in the Vice Presidential election. The reason is the process of this election, where Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs cast their votes, and that too through a proportional evaluation and preference-based system. This is the reason why ballot paper is used here. During voting for the post of Vice President, every voter has to mark preferences like 1, 2, 3, 4 in front of the names of the candidates. Counting of votes is done on the basis of these preferences, which is not possible with the current technology of EVM.
What reason do election officials give for not using EVM?
Giving the reason for not using EVMs in the Vice Presidential elections, the officials say that EVMs have not been made for this system of election. EVMs are the carriers of votes, whereas under the proportional representation system, it will have to be counted on the basis of preference. For this, different technologies will have to be used in EVMs. That is, a different type of EVM will be required for such an election. This is the reason why EVMs are not used in the Vice Presidential elections.
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