Hamid Ansari Gets A Second Term As VP

New Delhi, Aug 8, IRNA -- Hamid Ansari was re-elected Vice-President on Tuesday in a virtual repeat of the one-sided election that was witnessed in the Presidential poll when he defeated NDA's Jaswant Singh by a huge margin. Ansari thus became only the second person to get a second term when he defeated Singh by a margin of 252 votes. The 75-year-old, a former career diplomat, who missed out in the recent Presidential race, got 490 votes against 238 secured by the BJP veteran, a former union minister who had held the portfolios of finance, defence and external affairs. Altogether 787 Members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha (Upper and Lower House of Indian Parliament) were eligible to vote but 47 MPs did not cast their votes. Those who abstained included 21 BJD MPs, 11 of TDP and two of RSP. In all, 736 votes were polled in the election that took place today. Eight votes were invalid, pti reported quoting T K Vishwanathan, Lok Sabha Secretary General and Returning Officer for Vice Presidential poll. The election was on expected lines with the UPA cobbling its numbers comfortably on the lines it had managed during the Presidential poll including bagging the support of key constituent Trinamool Congress and outside allies SP and BSP. Ansari is the second incumbent to be re-elected after philosopher-statesman S Radhakrishnan, who was the first to get two terms from 1952 to 1962. An affable and well-read person, Ansari was the second choice of Congress President Sonia Gandhi for the President's post and lost out to Pranab Mukherjee due to some brinkmanship by TMC leader Mamata Banerjee and SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. A former Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Ansari's name came as a surprise in 2007 election when the Left parties, supporting the UPA-I from outside, proposed him and the Congress-led alliance accepted it. Out of the total 790 members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha that form the electoral college for Vice Presidential poll, 3 are vacant with Pranab Mukherjee becoming President, Vijay Bahuguna Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and the election of BJP MP J Shanta having been set aside by a High Court. Meanwhile, Vice-President Hamid Anasri, who was re-elected today, said he would continue to work for realisation of the aspirations of the people of India. 'I look forward to discharging my duties as Vice-President of the India and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to the best of my abilities. I will urge all the members of the House to work towrads the realisation of the aspirations of the people of India, all sections of the people of India,' Ansari told reporters here. Looking forward to cooperation from the MPs, he said 'it is a continuous process and I get a great deal of cooperation from the members of Rajya Sabha and I am confident that in the coming days and years, the cooperation will continue to be extended. It is a cooperative effort and it works well.' He said he is delighted with the election results and grateful to the Members of Parliament for electing him to the office for the second time. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Presdident Sonia Gandhi visited Ansari's residence to congratulate him after the election results were declared. Besides, many Congress leaders and ministers, including Digvijay Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Motilal Vohra, Pawan Kumar Basal, V Narayanswamy and Speaker Meira Kumar also went to Ansari's residence and congratulated him on his election victory./end