EC announces Vice Presidential election on August 6

The Election Commission on Wednesday announced the Vice Presidential election to be held on August 6 (Saturday).

The date on which counting, if required, shall be taken on the same day, said the EC in an official statement.

The term of the office of Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu is ending on August 10.

The last date for the filing of nominations is July 19 and the date for the scrutiny of nominations is July 20, it said.

"As per Article 68 of the Constitution of India, an election to fill the vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing Vice-President is required to be completed before the expiration of the term," the election watchdog said.

As per Article 66 of the Constitution of India, the Vice-President is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

For this year, 16th Vice-Presidential Election, the Electoral College consists of 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha,12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha, it said.

Electoral College comprises of a total of 788 members of both Houses of Parliament.

Since, all the electors are members of both Houses of Parliament, the value of vote of each Member would be the same i.e. 1 (one).

The Election Commission, in consultation with the Central Government, appoints the Secretary General of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, by rotation, as the Returning Officer.

Accordingly, the Secretary General, Lok Sabha will be appointed as the Returning Officer for the present election to the Office of the Vice-President of India.

The Commission has also decided to appoint Assistant Returning Officers in Parliament House (Lok Sabha) to assist Returning Officer, it said.

The EC also clarified that political parties cannot issue any whip to their MPs in the matter of voting in the Vice-Presidential election.

It is further clarified that as per Section 18 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, the offence of 'bribery' or 'undue influence' as defined in Sections 171B and 171C of IPC, by the returned candidate or any person with the consent of the returned candidate are among the grounds on which the election can be declared void by the Supreme Court in an election petition.