New Delhi:
Polling to elect the next Vice President of India is underway on Saturday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to cast his vote in the Parliament House.
“Voted in the 2022 Vice President election,” Prime Minister Modi tweeted after casting the vote.
The voting, which began at 10 am, will conclude at 5 pm. After counting of votes in the evening, the next Vice President will be elected.
The Vice President will take the oath of office on August 11, as the term of the incumbent Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu ends on August 10.
Meanwhile, India’s second largest Opposition party after the Congress, the Trinamool Congress had decided to abstain from the voting, saying it has ‘not been consulted’ on Margaret Alva’s candidature.
Opposition candidate Alva is contesting against NDA’s candidate and former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in the polls.
NDA candidate Dhankhar has the support from regional parties like the Janata Dal (United), YSRCP, BSP and Shiv Sena, and is set for an easy win while opposition candidate Alva is being supported by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). IANS