Margaret Alva to be opposition candidate for India's Vice President

After an all-party opposition meeting at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar's house on Sunday afternoon, senior Congress leader and five-time Member of Parliament Margaret Alva has been named the opposition's candidate for Vice President of India.

Taking to Twitter, Margaret accepted the nomination and thanked opposition leaders. "It is a privilege and an honour to be nominated as the candidate of the joint opposition for the post of Vice President of India. I accept this nomination with great humility and thank the leaders of the opposition for the faith they’ve put in me." she tweeted.

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Alva, a former Union Minister, has also served as governor of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand in the past. She will be up against NDA's candidate and West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Talking to the media, Sharad Pawar informed that the joint opposition was attempting to establish connection with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to gather their support for the VP candidate."We are trying to contact Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal. Last time they supported our joint prez candidate" said Sharad Pawar.

While Kejriwal and Mamata were missing, other leaders such as former Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and others were present in the meeting.

The opposition has all but lost the Presidential race as NDA's pick Draupadi Murmu is all set to be crowned the 15th President of the country tomorrow. Similarly, the competition for the Vice Presidentpost may not be easy as well.

Can the opposition manage a win?

Unlike the Prez elections where the BJP needed the support of allies and foes alike, the Vice President election only requires the vote ofLok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, including the nominated lawmakers. Cumulatively,BJP has 395 MPs, or votes, in the Vice-Presidential election, seven more than the victory mark of 388.

As reported by WION, on Saturday, BJP chief JP Nadda declared the NDA's choice after much speculation. “After all considerations and consultations, we have decided to announce Kisan Putra (farmer's son) Jagdeep Dhankhar as the BJP and NDA's candidate for Vice President.” said Nadda during the announcement.

Read More:Vice President election 2022: Ruling BJP, allies pick Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

The voting to elect India's 16th Vice President will take place on August 6 with the last date of filing nomination being July 19. The term of current Vice PresidentVenkaiah Nadu ends on August 10.

(With inputs from agencies)

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