With President Droupadi Murmu accepting Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resignation, the process for electing his successor has to be completed “as soon as possible”.AdvertisementArticle 68(2) of the Constitution mandates that “an election to fill a vacancy in the office of the Vice-President occurring by reason of his death, resignation or removal, or otherwise shall be held as soon as possible”.The provision further says “the person elected to fill the vacancy shall, subject to the provisions of Article 67, be entitled to hold office for the full term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office”.The Vice-President works in a dual capacity as he presides over the Rajya Sabha and also acts as the President in certain contingencies. While the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson is expected to perform his duties with regard to the Upper House on the V-P’s resignation, it remains unclear who performs the duties of the Vice-President in case of his death or resignation before the expiry of his term.Section 4(3) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, provides that the notification for election shall be issued on or after the sixtieth day before the expiration of term of office of the outgoing Vice-President. However, Section 4(4) says that “in the case of an election to fill a vacancy in the office of President or Vice-President occurring by reason of his death, resignation or removal or otherwise, the notification under sub-section (1) shall be issued as soon as may be after the occurrence of such vacancy”.Now, the Election Commission has to announce the schedule for the election of a new Vice-President. According to Article 66, the Vice-President is elected by the members of the electoral college comprising the members of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.For the 2022 V-P election, the electoral college comprised 233 elected and 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of Lok Sabha. The Election Commission appoints the Secretary General of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, by rotation, as the returning officer in consultation with the Centre.
Law provides for picking new V-P ‘as soon as possible’
