Margaret Alva is Opposition parties' choice for Vice President post

Veteran Congress leader Margaret Alva (Image: @alva_margaret/Twitter)

The Opposition parties have decided to field veteran Congress leader & ex-Union Minister Margaret Alva as a joint candidate for the Vice President’s post, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar announced on July 17.

Pawar announcing the choice after an all-party Opposition meet, said all 17 opposition parties had agreed on Alva's name.

"17 parties are on board for this unanimous decision. Our collective thinking is Alva will file VP nomination on Tuesday," Pawar told PTI.

"We are trying to contact Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal. Last time they supported our joint president candidate," the NCP chief told the news agency.

Among the attendees were Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja and Binoy Viswam, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, DMK's T R Baalu and Tiruchi Siva, SP's Ram Gopal Yadav, MDMK's Vaiko and TRS' K Keshava Rao.

The RJD's A D Singh, IMUL's E T Mohammed Basheer and Kerala Congress (M)'s Jose K. Mani were also present.

Alva accepted the nomination and thanked the opposition leaders.

"It is a privilege and an honour to be nominated as the candidate of the joint opposition for the post of Vice President of India. I accept this nomination with great humility and thank the leaders of the opposition for the faith they’ve put in me. Jai Hind," tweeted Alva.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) candidate for the Vice Presidential election. The announcement was made on July 16 by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief by JP Nadda after Dhankhar's name was picked during the party's parliamentary board meeting.

Also Read: Vice President of India | Power, process and the significance

The Election Commission of India issued the notification for the election of the Vice President of India on July 5. The election will be held on August 6, and July 19 is the last date for filing the nominations. The term of office of incumbent Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu comes to an end on August 10.

The Vice President is elected by an electoral college which comprises members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Out of Parliament's current strength of 780, the BJP alone has 394 MPs, more than the majority mark of 390. The term of Naidu, the present incumbent, ends on August 10.

Draupadi Murmu vs Yashwant Sinha for next President

The ruling BJP-led NDA has picked Draupadi Murmu, a former governor of Jharkhand and a prominent politician from Odisha's tribal community, as its candidate for the presidential election. She will be up against former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, the Opposition's candidate in the July 18 election, which will be followed by vote-counting on July 21.

Also Read: Explained: How is the President of India elected?

The term of President Ram Nath Kovind ends on July 24.