2012 Indian vice presidential election

The 2012 Indian vice presidential election was held on 7 August 2012[1] to elect the vice president of India. Mohammad Hamid Ansari was the incumbent and the UPA candidate. The other prime candidate was the NDA's Jaswant Singh.[2][3]

2012 Indian vice presidential election
7 August 2012
 
Nominee Mohammad Hamid Ansari Jaswant Singh
Party INC BJP
Alliance UPA NDA
Home state West Bengal Rajasthan
Electoral vote 490 238
Percentage 67.31% 32.69%
Vice President before election

Mohammad Hamid Ansari
INC

 Elected Vice President

Mohammad Hamid Ansari
INC

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Ansari then reelected as vice president.[4] In doing so, he became the first VP to be reelected since Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in 1957.

Background
Main article: Vice President of India §  Election, oath and term

Indian Vice President has a term of 5 years. Current VP, Hamid Ansari, took oath as Vice President on 11 August 2007, hence his term ended on 10 August 2012. The Election Commission of India undertook the election. T. K. Viswanathan and V. R. Ramesh were appointed as Returning Officer and the Assistant Returning Officer respectively.[5]

Electoral College

The electoral college consists of, all 245 Rajya Sabha members and all 545 Lok Sabha members, a total of 790 voters.[5]

Timeline

According to, the Election Commission of India's press note on 3 July detailing the process of conduct and declaration of the result of the election, the program for the election was,[5]

  • Notification - 6 July.
  • Deadline for nominations - 20 July.
  • Scrutiny of nominations - 21 July.
  • Deadline for withdrawal of nominations - 23 July
  • Date and voting hours - 7 August from 10:00 to 17:00. Announcement of result at 18:00.

Candidates

Thirty-four candidates had filed their nomination papers for the election. Seven of them had filed nomination papers on the deadline day. Four nomination were rejected for failing to comply with the requirement of attaching a certified copy of the entry relating to the candidate's parliamentary constituency.[6]

Jaswant Singh

Jaswant Singh had filed his nomination papers on 20 July in the presence of National Democratic Alliance coalition leaders. Three sets of papers- one each by L. K. Advani, Sumitra Mahajan and Yashwant Sinha, supporting Singh's candidature were submitted to the returning officer Viswanathan.[7] His candidature was announced by the NDA on 16 July.[8] He would meet All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik of Biju Janata Dal on 6 August asking them to support his candidature.[9]

Hamid Ansari

Ansari filed his nomination papers on 18 Jul United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, INC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, RLD leader Ajit Singh, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A. K. Antony and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav were among the political leaders who were present to support him at the time of his nomination.[10] His candidature was announced by Sonia Gandhi at a UPA meeting held at Singh's official residence. Sonia Gandhi proposed his nomination by saying: "Mohd Hamid Ansari will complete shortly a term as Vice-President of India. He has presided over the Rajya Sabha with dignity and distinction. The UPA is honoured to nominate him as its candidate for a second term as Vice-President of India. "[11] Sonia Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Satish Mishra and INCMP Motilal Vora then submitted one set of papers each to Viswanathan in support of Ansari's candidature. [12]

Though Mukul Roy of the All India Trinamool Congress had put before the names of Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Krishna Bose, they declined to contest.[11]

Result

Ansari was elected as Vice President for a second term, and became the only person to do so after Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was reelected in 1957.[13]

Result of the Indian vice-presidential election, 2012[13][14]
Candidate
 Party
 Electoral Votes
 % of Votes
Mohammad Hamid AnsariINC49067.31
Jaswant SinghBJP23832.69
Total 728 100.00
Valid Votes72898.91
Invalid Votes81.09
Turnout73693.16
Abstentions546.84
Electors790

See also

References
  1. "BJP to field candidate for vice-president against Hamid Ansari". NDTV. 15 July 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  2. "Jaswant Singh to give stature to vice-president poll contest". DNA India. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  3. "Ansari may write to MPs of UPA and supporting parties". DNA India. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  4. "Hamid Ansari gets second term as vice president". Hindustan Times. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  5. PRESS NOTE Subject: Election to the Office of the Vice-President, 2012 (14th Vice-Presidential Election), ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA
  6. "Hamid Ansari, Jaswant Singh among 34 in fray for Vice Presidential poll". 20 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  7. "Jaswant Singh files nomination for Vice Presidential poll". The Economic Times. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  8. "Jaswant Singh is NDA nominee for Vice Presidential election". The Indian Express. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  9. "Vice-Presidential poll: Jaswant Singh to seek J Jayalalithaa, BJD support". The Economic Times. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  10. "Vice-presidential poll: Hamid Ansari files nomination papers". The Times of India. 18 July 2012. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  11. "Hamid Ansari is UPA nominee for Vice-President's post; BJP to contest VP poll, NDA meet on July 16". The Times of India. 14 July 2012. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  12. "Hamid Ansari files nomination papers for Vice-Presidential post". The India Today. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  13. "Hamid Ansari re-elected vice-president in one-sided contest". The Times of India. 8 August 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  14. "Hamid Ansari wins second term as Vice President of India". The Economic Times. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
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