'A good man exits,' says Jairam Ramesh on Naidu's retirement

NEW DELHI: After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate for the Vice Presidential election, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said the humour and wit of outgoing Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will be missed, adding that "a good man exits".

"So it is curtains for Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu-garu. His humour and wit will be missed. On many occasions, he got the Opposition all agitated, but at the end of it, a good man exits. He may have retired, but I know he will not be tired," said Ramesh in a Twitter post.

The BJP on Saturday announced the name of West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate for the Vice Presidential election. "NDA's candidate for the post of Vice President of India will be Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Kisan Putra Jagdeep Dhankhar has been in public life for more than three decades. Jagdeep Dhankhar's life story reflects the spirit of new India - overcoming innumerable social and economic hurdles and achieving one's goals," said BJP chief JP Nadda.

The decision comes after the BJP parliamentary board meeting held in the party headquarters which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders. Meanwhile, the leaders of Opposition parties will meet on Sunday to discuss the candidate for the upcoming Vice Presidential election. "The meeting on July 17 and all Opposition leaders will attend it.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister has also called an all-party meet. So, we will hold a discussion with everyone on the 17th that what kind of a candidate we should have," said Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on the candidate for the Vice Presidential polls. Kharge said Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi has given a go-ahead for a joint Opposition candidate.

"There is no candidate from Congress. Our party president has clearly said that whoever is chosen as the candidate by all parties (of Opposition), we will stand with it," he added.

Yashwant Sinha is the candidate of the Opposition parties for the presidential election.

Congress has given the task to Malikarjun Kharge who is the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha to reach out to opposition parties to select a candidate for the election for the Vice President post. Nominations for the vice-presidential polls slated to be held on August 6, began on Tuesday.

The Election Commission made an announcement of the elections for the 16th vice president of India to take place on August 6, 2022.

The ECI has also issued directions for Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh to be the Returning Officer for the polls. The nomination papers for the above election can be submitted starting Saturday up to July 19, 2022. The scrutiny for the nominations will take place on July 20 and the final list will be published on July 22.

As in the case of the election to the President of India, the eligible candidates will need to submit a few documents including a certified copy of the electoral roll with the name mentioned on it and an amount of Rs 15,000 at the time of submitting the nomination papers which shall be returned after the election process is over in case the candidate does not make it to the final list.

In case of the election of the Vice President of India, voting will happen in the Parliament and members of the Rajya Sabha will participate in this election as the vice president is also the de facto chairman of the upper house. The poll for the upcoming vice president's election is slated to take place between 10 AM and 5 PM on August 6, 2022, and the results are expected to be out on the same day. In 2017, the NDA had nominated Venkaiah Naidu as its candidate for the vice-presidential election and he went on to become India's 15th vice president. His term ends on August 10, 2022.