Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh is likely to be named as NDA’s candidate for the vice-presidential polls, sources said .
Singh had quit the Congress party last year claiming that he was “humiliated” and floated his own party Punjab Lok Congress. He had contested the 2022 state Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP and the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyuk).
The election for the key constitutional post is scheduled to be held on August 6. Present Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s term ends on August 10. Members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, including nominated members, form the electoral college for the vice presidential election.
“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,” a BJP insider was quoted as saying by IANS.
Singh is currently in London where he is recovering after a spinal surgery.
Singh is likely to merge his Punjab Lok Congress with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after his return from London, senior Punjab BJP leader Harjit Singh Grewal told PTI.
Grewal claimed that the two-time chief minister expressed his willingness to merge his party with the BJP before leaving for London. He also said that Singh will announce the merger on his return.
The notification for the election to decide the successor of Naidu will be issued on July 5 and the last date for filing of nomination papers will be July 19.
