With the presidential
elections over and Droupadi Murmu set to take charge as the President of India
on July 25, the political buzz has now shifted to the vice president elections.
Venkaiah Naidu’s term is on the verge of ending and India is set to elect its
next vice president. There are two candidates in the fray: Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) candidate and Mamata Banerjee’s frequent critic, the West Bengal
Governor Jagdeep Dhankar and the opposition’s candidate Margaret Alva.
Banerjee’s party,
Trinamool Congress, has decided to abstain from voting in the vice president
polls. This is because, according to Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien,
it was impossible for West Bengal’s ruling party to lend support to the
BJP-supported candidate for the vice president polls. On the other hand, the
Trinamool is unwilling to vote for the opposition candidate because, according
to the party, they only got to know of Margaret Alva’s candidature right before
it was announced.
Mamata Banerjee’s
Trinamool Congress has been at the forefront of stringing together an opposition
alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In such an attempt, the party
sought to take a leading role in finding a presidential candidate based on
consensus.
At first, the
Trinamool approached Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. When
Pawar refused to stand for presidential elections, the Trinamool approached
National Conference leader Farooq Abdulla. Abdulla too rejected the proposal
and the Trinamool next went to Gopalkrishna Gandhi. When Gandhi decided against
contesting the polls, Trinamool took its own partyman, Yashwant Sinha to stand
for elections.
Sinha lost to
Droupadi Murmu, who will take oath to become India’s first tribal president.
After deciding to
abstain from the vice president elections, Derek O’Brien said, “Treat us as
equal partners and we will smoothly work together to expose BJP on matters
where they have failed this country. The BJP has botched up [on many fronts,
leading to issues] like unemployment, price-rise, federal structure, media freedom,
credibility of institutions and more,” The Indian Express reported.
Margaret Alva, the
opposition’s candidate in the vice-presidential elections, has served as the
governor of Rajasthan. She was also the first woman governor of Uttarakhand.
