The Election Commission on Thursday issued a notification for the September 9 vice presidential poll, kickstarting the exercise to elect Jagdeep Dhankhar's successor.
Rajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody, the returning officer for the election, received three nomination papers, which were rejected for not being in order.
According to the notification, August 21 is the last date for filing nominations and the documents will be scrutinised on August 22.
The last date for the withdrawal of nominations is August 25.
The vice presidential poll was necessitated following the surprise resignation of Dhankhar on July 21, citing health reasons. His term was to end in August 2027.
The ruling BJP-led NDA has begun internal consultations for fielding candidates for the vice presidential election.
The NDA has authorised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president J P Nadda to pick the ruling bloc's vice presidential candidate, According to constitutional provisions, in case of a mid-term poll, the incumbent gets a full five-year term.
A person cannot be elected as the vice president unless he is a citizen of India, has completed 35 years of age and is qualified for election as a member of Rajya Sabha.
A person is also not eligible if he holds any office of profit under the government of India or a state government or any subordinate local authority.
The ruling NDA has a comfortable edge in the vice presidential elections.
The vice president is elected by the members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, with nominated members of the Upper House also eligible to vote.
The 543-member Lok Sabha has one vacant seat -- Basirhat in West Bengal -- while there are six vacancies in the 245-member Rajya Sabha.
Of the six vacancies in Rajya Sabha, four are from Jammu and Kashmir, and one each from Punjab and Jharkhand. The seat from Punjab fell vacant after AAP leader Sanjeev Arora quit following his election to the state assembly in a byelection last month.
The demise of JMM leader Shibu Soren has created a fresh vacancy in the Upper House from Jharkhand.
The effective strength of both the Houses together is 781 and the winning candidate will require 391 votes, considering that all eligible voters exercise their franchise.
In Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA enjoys the support of 293 of the 542 members. The ruling alliance has the support of 129 members in Rajya Sabha, which has an effective strength of 240, assuming that the nominated members vote in support of the NDA nominee.
Thus, the ruling alliance has the support of around 422 members.
Article 66 (1) of the Constitution provides that the vice presidential election shall be held in accordance with the system of Proportional Representation by means of the single transferable vote, and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot.
In this system, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates.
The vice president is the second-highest constitutional office in the country. He serves for a five-year term, but can continue to be in office, irrespective of the expiry of the term, until the successor assumes office.
