Margaret Alva, former Rajasthan governor, has been selected
as the Opposition’s vice-presidential candidate. Alva, 80, has been a member of
the Indian National Congress (INC). She will be up against Jagdeep Dhankar, 71,
the current serving governor of West Bengal. Margaret Alva’s name as the
vice-presidential candidate was announced by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo
Sharad Pawar on Sunday. The announcement came a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) announced its vice-presidential candidate.

India will elect its vice president on August 6. Nominations
have began on July 5 and the last date for filing nominations is July 19.

Alva was the first woman to have served as the governor of Uttarakhand. She later became the governor of Rajasthan. Dhankar has had three terms in the Rajya Sabha and one term in the Lok Sabha. She was a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs from 1984 to 1985. 

Her contest will be with Jagdeep Dhankhar. Dhankhar, 71, has often courted controversy as the Governor of West Bengal. Considered proximate to the Sangh Parivar, Dhankhar’s tiffs with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has often made national headlines. The announcement of Dhankhar as the vice presidential nominee saw a muted response from the Trinamool and Mamata Banerjee. 

While the vice presidential elections will be held on August 6, the presidential elections will be held on July 18. For the President of India post, the two contenders are Droupadi Murmu and Yashwant Singh. 

Droupadi Murmu, who has served as the only governor of Jharkhand to have finished a full term, is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s presidential nominee. Hailing from a tribal family in Odisha, Murmu being elected India’s President would give the world’s largest democracy its first Adivasi President. 

Yashwant Singh is the Opposition’s presidential candidate. Associated with the BJP for a long time, Yashwant Singh broke ranks by criticising the BJP under Narendra Modi. He later joined Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.