Dhankhar set to be elected as Vice-President, numbers firmly against Alva in Saturday poll | Political Pulse News,The Indian Express
The numbers in the Vice-Presidential poll are stacked heavily in favour of Dhankhar and it is to be seen whether the Opposition will be hit again by cross-voting like what was witnessed in the Presidential election last month.
Amid a bitter political battle raging between the BJP-led NDA government and the Opposition, parliamentarians will vote Saturday to elect the next Vice-President of India in a contest of competing ideologies between the NDA candidate, Jagdeep Dhankhar, and the Opposition nominee, Margaret Alva.
The numbers in the Vice-Presidential poll are stacked heavily in favour of Dhankhar and it is to be seen whether the Opposition will be hit again by cross-voting like what was witnessed in the Presidential election last month.
The Opposition camp is evidently divided once again. The Trinamool Congress (TMC), the second largest Opposition party after the Congress in Parliament with 36 MPs in both the Houses, has decided to abstain from the Saturday vote. While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), TRS, AIMIM and JMM have announced their support for Alva, the BSP and TDP have decided to back Dhankhar.
The JMM, which rules Jharkhand in alliance with the Congress and other parties, had supported the NDA’s candidate, Droupadi Murmu, in the Presidential election, who became the first tribal to become the President of India.
Both the YSRCP and BJD, with a combined tally of 52 votes, have decided to back Dhankhar. The two parties had backed the NDA nominee in the Presidential election as well.
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