Margaret Alva to Himanta on VP polls: ‘I know what electoral college means’

Margaret Alva, backed by the opposition for Vice President elections, is all geared up to contest the polls to be held on August 6. On Sunday.

The five-time member of parliament, Alva, reached out to three chief ministers – Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal, Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma and Karnataka’s Basavaraj Bommai – amid the Vice Presidential election campaign.

But a Twitter exchange ensued soon after. Earlier, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet: “Smt. @alva_margaret took charge of her campaign office at 1, Pt Ravi Shankar Shukla Lane today. She spoke to CM Assam, CM Karnataka, & CM Delhi as part of her Vice Presidential campaign.”

However, the tweet prompted a reply from Himanta Biswa Sarma, a BJP leader. “Smt. @alva_margaret spoke to me this morning. I politely told her that I’m not a member of the electoral college. As such I have no role in the election of Vice President of India,” he said.

And then, Alva, 80, responded. “As part of my campaign for VP, I’m reaching out to leaders from across political parties. Mr Sarma is an old friend & we’ve worked together long enough for him to know that after 30 yrs. in Parliament, I know what constitutes the electoral college. We had a nice chat though!”

The Vice-President is elected, as per Article 66 of the Constitution of India, by the members of the 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.

As per a government statement, the current Electoral College – for 2022 presidential elections consists of 233 elected members of Rajya Sabha, 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of Lok Sabha.

Alva’s contender is NDA-backed Jagdeep Dhankhar.

The tenure of India’s 15th Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu, ends on August 10.