New Delhi:
Vice President Hamid Ansari is emerging as one of the frontrunners for the post again. Ahead of the vice presidential polls, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to CPM's General Secretary Prakash Karat to discuss the matter.
Though some names are understood to have been discussed during the telephone conversation, Karat refused to divulge them.
Congress is understood to have propped up Vice President Hamid Ansari's name for a second term with the Prime Minister beginning the exercise to solicit support for his candidature.
PM discussed Ansari's name with former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda on Saturday and the party supported his candidature.
Mr Ansari, who became the Vice President in 2007 with the support from the Left, is set to complete his tenure on August 10.
The election for India's next Vice President will be held on August 7. While the notification will be issued on July 6, the last date of filing nominations is July 20, the poll panel said in a statement.
The date for the scrutiny of nomination is July 21, while the last date for the withdrawals is July 23.
The Vice-President is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The nominated Members of both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha are also eligible to be included in the Electoral College and, therefore, they are entitled to participate in the election.
The Electoral College for the election of the Vice-President consists of a total 790 members from both houses. It consists of 233 elected members and 12 nominated members from the Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members and 2 nominated members from the Lok Sabha.