The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Parliamentary Board meeting to pick the party's Vice Presidential candidate started on Saturday evening. It was underway at the time this story was written.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP chief JP Nadda are among those attending the meeting.
While the BJP last month announced tribal leader and former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu as the presidential candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's (NDA), the party has not yet announced the candidate for vice president.
In 2017, the BJP had named the then Cabinet minister M Venkaiah Naidu, a former BJP president and veteran parliamentarian, as its vice president candidate.
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Naidu had won the election comfortably to occupy the second highest constitutional post of the country. Naidu's current term ends on August 10. The BJP is again in a strong position to ensure the victory of its candidate.
The electoral college for picking the next vice president, who is also the ex-officio Rajya Sabha chairperson, comprises members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Out of Parliament's current strength of 780, the BJP alone has 394 MPs, more than the majority mark of 390.
The last date for filing of nomination papers for the poll is July 19 and the election is scheduled for August 6
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(With PTI inputs)
