Rediff On The NeT: Krishna Kant elected vice-president

Krishna Kant elected vice-president

Krishna Kant, current governor of Andhra Pradesh, was elected vice-president of India on Saturday.

Krishna Kant, the consensus candidate of the Congress and the ruling United Front, secured 441 votes out of the 760 votes polled. Surjit Singh Barnala, backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies, garnered 273 votes. Forty-six votes were declared invalid as the voters, members of Parliament, put their names on the ballot paper.

Observers said at least 45 to 50 members of the United Front and Congress had voted for Barnala. Krishna Kant, who was slated to get support from 551 members, had to settle for 110 fewer votes. Many United Front members opted not to vote.

Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma could not exercise his right as he was in hospital with high fever resulting from a throat infection.

Krishna Kant is the tenth vice-president of the country. The earlier vice-presidents of India are Dr Radhakrishanan, who served the country for two terms, followed by Zakir Hussain, V V Giri, B D Jatti, S Hidayatullah, G S D Pathak, R Venkataraman, S D Sharma and K R Narayanan.

Announcing the result, R C Tripathi, returning officer for the election, said in all there were 779 eligible voters in the electoral college for the post of vice-president and there were eleven vacancies in the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha are part of the electoral college for the vice-presidential election.

Polling began in the morning on a brisk note and more than 715 members had voted within the first three and a half hours. The office of the vice-president had fallen vacant after K R Narayanan was elected President last month.

Barnala stood outside the polling station throughout the day requesting members to support him.

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