Vice President Poll Begins; Hamid Ansari Appears Set for a Second Time

New Delhi: UPA nominee Hamid Ansari appears set to get a second term as Vice President by emerging a clear winner against NDA's Jaswant Singh in a direct contest for the post today. The election began shortly after 10 am.

The election for the post of Vice President has seen UPA and its allies, the Left as also other parties supporting it from outside backing the incumbent.

A total of 788 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs are eligible to vote in the poll to elect the 14th Vice President.

UPA managers are confident that Mr Ansari, 75, is set to get at least 500 votes in a contest in which he has a definite edge as far as the arithmetic is concerned.

The Congress itself has 204 members in Lok Sabha and 71 in Rajya Sabha. UPA constituents Trinamool Congress has 19 MPs in Lok Sabha and nine in Rajya Sabha; the DMK has 18 members in Lok Sabha and seven in Rajya Sabha, the NCP nine in Lok Sabha and seven in Rajya Sabha and the RLD has five in Lok Sabha. The National Conference has three in Lok Sabha and two in Rajya Sabha.