Vice Presidential election 2017: Fight with Naidu not personal, says Gandhi

Gopalkrishna Gandhi is pitted against National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate M Venkaiah Naidu

In the midst of ongoing Vice Presidential elections, Opposition candidate and former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Saturday said that it's a fight based on constitutional principles and nothing is personal.

Gandhi is pitted against National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate M Venkaiah Naidu.

While talking to ANI, Gandhi said, "NDA's candidate (Venkaiah Naidu) is an experienced person, there is only technically competition between us and nothing personal. It is a fight based on constitutional principles, where I maintained complete civility and same has been done from the other side too."

The term of incumbent Hamid Ansari, who has held the post for two consecutive terms, comes to an end on August 10.

The voting begun on Friday at 10 am and will continue on till 5 pm. The counting of votes will start at 7 pm and the result will be declared Saturday evening.

The Vice- President is selected through a secret ballot 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 Rajya Sabha as well as of Lok Sabha are also eligible to be included in the Electoral College and, therefore, are entitled to participate in the election.

Members of Parliament will use special pens for marking their choice. Votes marked with any other pen are liable to be rejected. The ballot paper shall contain the names of the contesting candidates, but does not contain any election symbol.

Unlike the President, the Vice-President is not allotted any special residential privileges while in office. While the President of India stays at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Vice-President is not subjected to any such benefits during his or her tenure.