Venkaiah Naidu of NDA is VP elect
Source: The Sangai Express / PTI
New Delhi, August 05 2017:
NDA nominee M Venkaiah Naidu was today elected as the next Vice President of India by securing over two-thirds of votes leaving opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi far behind .
Naidu got 516 votes out of total 771 votes cast while Gandhi could only manage 244 votes.
Of the total 771 votes polled, 11 were found to be invalid .
Although 785 MPs are there in both the Houses of Parliament, 14 MPs could not vote .
"Coming from an agricultural background, I never imagined I would be here.
Agriculture has no proper voice in Indian polity," India's Vice President-elect told PTI .
"I am very humbled.
I am also thankful to the Prime Minister and all party leaders for their support.
I will seek to utilise the Vice Presidential institution to strengthen the hands of the President and secondly uphold the dignity of the Upper House," he added .
Naidu will be the 13th person to hold the second highest Constitutional post .
The strength of the electoral college comprising both elected and nominated MPs of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha is 790 .
While there are two vacancies in the LS, three seats are vacant in the RS also .
One BJP Lok Sabha MP is barred from voting following a judicial pronouncement .
In the 2007 VP poll, incumbent Hamid Ansari had polled 456 votes, Najma Heptullah 222 votes and Rashid Masood 075 votes .
In the 2012 polls, Ansari had bagged 490 and NDA nominee Jaswant Singh 238 votes.