NDA likely to nominate former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh as Vice Presidential candidate

Amarinder Singh, the former chief minister of Punjab, is vying for the position of India’s vice president. According to sources, the NDA is expected to nominate the former Punjab Chief Minister for Vice President.

“Several names are doing the rounds of which the prominent ones are Amarinder Singh, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The vice presidential candidate will be finalised by the top BJP leadership and the Parliamentary Board,” said a BJP insider.

Singh is now undergoing back surgery in London. In any case, a close associate to the former chief minister of Punjab indicated that no confirmation has been received yet presenting Singh’s name as the NDA’s contender for the office of Vice President.

In BJP circles, there is speculation that Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is now serving his first term, may be re-elected, although this has not yet been officially acknowledged.

Singh left the Congress and formed the Punjab Lok Congress after he was removed from the post of Punjab Chief Minister last year. He contested the recent Punjab Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP.

The BJP-led NDA candidate is all set to become the next Vice President as the voters are the Members of Parliament and the BJP has a huge mandate in the Lok Sabha while in the Rajya Sabha, it is the single-largest party having more than 90 seats.

In the last election in 2017, the Opposition had fielded Gopalkrishna Gandhi but he lost to Naidu. Naidu polled 516 votes while Gandhi could manage only 244 votes.

The Vice Presidential election is scheduled to be held on August 6.