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Vice President Election Process in India: The members of both the Houses of Parliament will vote to elect the country’s next Vice President on Tuesday (September 9). While the ruling NDA has fielded Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan as its candidate for the post, the Opposition has former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy as its nominee.
The election comes after Jagdeep Dhankhar suddenly resigned on the opening day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament in July, two years before his tenure’s end.
Article 63 of the Constitution states that “there shall be a Vice-President of India”. Under Article 64, the Vice-President “shall be ex officio Chairman of the Council of the States” (Rajya Sabha).
Article 65 says that “in the event of the occurrence of any vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation or removal, or otherwise, the Vice-President shall act as President until the date on which a new President…enters upon his office”.
The Vice-President shall also discharge the functions of the President when the latter is unable to do so “owing to absence, illness or any other cause”.
During this period, the Vice-President shall “have all the powers and immunities of the President and be entitled to… (the) emoluments, allowances and privileges” that are due to the President. The office of the Vice-President of India is the second-highest constitutional office after that of the President, and ranks second in the order of precedence.
Article 66 lays down the process of the election of the Vice-President.
It says the Vice-President “shall be elected by the members of an 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 and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot”.
The Electoral College consists of 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha (currently, five seats are vacant), 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha (currently, one seat is vacant), adding up to 788 members (currently, 782 members). In the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates.
“Preference can be marked in the international form of Indian numerals, in Roman form, or in the form in any recognised Indian languages… The elector can mark as many preferences as the number of candidates. While the marking of the first preference is compulsory for the ballot paper to be valid, other preferences are optional,” the Election Commission of India said in a press release issued on August 1.
Under the Constitution, the Vice-President “shall not be a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of the Legislature of any State”. If a member of any of these Houses is elected to the post, “he shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in that House on the date on which he enters upon his office as Vice-President”.
Article 66(3) says “No person shall be eligible for election as Vice-President unless he — (a) is a citizen of India; (b) has completed the age of thirty-five years; and (c) is qualified for election as a member of the Council of States”.
Under Article 66(4), “A person shall not be eligible for election as Vice-President if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State or under any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the said Governments.”
Article 67 lays down that the “Vice-President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office”. However, the Vice-President “shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office”.
The Vice-President may leave office before the end of his term by resigning to the President, or he “may be removed…by a resolution of the Council of States passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People”.
Article 71 of the Constitution deals with “Matters relating to, or connected with, the election of a President or Vice-President”. It says that “all doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with the election of a President or Vice-President shall be inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court whose decision shall be final”.
Should the Supreme Court declare the election of the President or Vice-President void, however, “acts done by him in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of the office of President or Vice-President,…on or before the date of the decision of the Supreme Court shall not be invalidated by reason of that declaration”.
Also, “Parliament may by law regulate any matter relating to or connected with the election of a President or Vice-President”.
In 2018, the salary of the Vice President was raised to Rs 4 lakh, up from Rs 1.25 lakh, and the President’s to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh. Before this revision, the salaries of these senior Constitutional posts had been less than top bureaucrats and armed forces service chiefs .
The provisions for the Vice President are listed in The Vice-President’s Pension Act, 1997. Under the Act, “There shall be paid to every person who ceases to hold office as VicePresident, either by expiration of his term of office or by resignation of his office, a pension (at the rate of fifty per cent of the salary of the Vice-President) per month, for
the remainder of his life”. After their death, their spouse is entitled to half of the pension amount per month.
A person once elected Vice President is entitled to, for the remainder of her life, “the use without payment of rent of such furnished residence (including its maintenance), as the Central Government may determine from time to time}”, along with medical care and travel expenses, and a “secretarial staff consisting of a Private Secretary, an Additional Private Secretary, a Personal Assistant and two Peons and office expenses” up to a fixed limit.
