NEW DELHI: JD (U) MP Harivansh on Wednesday he submitted his nomination as the ruling NDA candidate to the Rajya sabha vice president and is likely to be elected, even when the opposition is working to present a joint candidate against him to force a race.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s tally is 116 in the 245-member Chamber, which has an effective force of 244, and its top leaders have expressed confidence that non-NDA parties like Biju Janta Dal, the YSR Congress, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which has nine, six and seven members respectively, will endorse Harivansh.
BJP floor managers believe that it will get the support of around 140 MPs in the event of a contest.
Harivansh presented his nomination in the presence of Rajya Sabha leader Thawarchand Gehlot and BJP allied SAD leader Naresh Gujral. BJP President JP Nadda and LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan are among its proponents.
The election for the post of vice president will be held on September 14, the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament, which will end on October 1.
September 11 is the last day to submit the nomination.
Harivansh was also the last person to hold the position and the end of his tenure at Rajya Sabha led to the vacancy. He was elected a member of the House of Bihar Recently.
With Congress in favor of running a joint opposition candidate for the vice president position, the competition is up for grabs.
Harivansh had comfortably defeated BK Hariprasad from Congress in the 2018 election for the position, garnering 125 votes to 105 for his rival.
Since then, the NDA has further strengthened its presence in Rajya Sabha, with a disjointed opposition further weakened by its dwindling numbers, unable to put any strong obstacles on the government’s legislative agenda in the House.
On Tuesday, Congress, at its parliamentary strategy group meeting, decided not to let Rajya Sabha’s vice president position go unopposed and favored the presentation of a joint candidate for the entire opposition.
The decision was made at the meeting chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Sources said the party may offer the post of vice president to its ally DMK, and Tiruchi Siva is among the candidates being considered. In the event that the DMK does not appear, Congress will present its own candidate as it does not want the position to go unopposed.
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