Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have announced to support Opposition’s candidate for the Vice President’s post, Margaret Alva. The NDA has fielded former governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as its nominee for the vice presidential election 2022.
The JMM has two MPs in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha. JMM founder Shibu Soren asked its parliamentarians to vote in favour of Alva during the vice-presidential election that is scheduled to take place on August 6.
It may be noted that the JMM had earlier supported the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu in the July 18 presidential election.
Margaret Alva on July 30 met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to seek AAP’s support.
Initially, seventeen Opposition parties had decided to field Alva as their VP candidate against NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Trinamool Congress has announced that it will abstain from voting in the poll to elect the next Vice President of India..
Alva, the Opposition’s candidate for the Vice President’s post, wrote a letter to the MPs cutting across the party lines, saying the election should be seen as a referendum on how Parliament is being run.
“I’ve written to Members of Parliament, across parties, explaining why I think the VP election on Aug 6th is not just another election, but must be seen as a referendum on how Parliament is being run. The MPs have the power to bring about change. I’ve urged them to use that power,” Margaret Alva tweeted.
“It must be seen as a referendum on the manner in which Parliament is being run and the breakdown in the fundamental democratic process of building consensus on important national issues, in which you, as the representative of the people, are an important stakeholder,” Alva’s letter stated.
