The Office of the Vice-President of India has fallen vacant in view of the Notification No. S.O. 3354(E), dated 22.07.2025, of the Ministry of Home Affairs. As per the provisions of sub-section (1) and sub-section (4) of Section 4 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, the notification calling the Vice-Presidential Election to fill the vacancy so caused is required to be issued as soon as may be after the occurrence of said vacancy. 

2.         Under the provisions of Article 67 of the Constitution of India, the Vice-President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he/she enters upon his/her office. Further, as per the provisions of Article 68(2) of the Constitution, an  election to fill a vacancy in the office of the Vice-President occurring by reason of his/her death, resignation or removal or otherwise, shall be held as soon as possible after the occurrence of the vacancy, and the person elected to fill the vacancy shall, subject to the provisions of Article 67, be entitled to hold office for the full term of five years from the date on which he/she enters upon his/her office.

3.         Article 324 of the Constitution read with the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 and the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974, vests the superintendence, direction and control of the conduct of election to the office of the Vice-President of India in the Election Commission of India. The Election Commission is mandated to ensure that the Vice-Presidential Election is conducted in accordance with the Constitutional provisions and relevant laws and rules. In furtherance of this, the ECI, today announces the schedule of election for the 17^th Vice-Presidential Election.

4.         As per Article 66 of the Constitution of India, the Vice-President is elected 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. For 2025, 17^th Vice-Presidential Election, the Electoral College consists of:

1. 233 elected members of Rajya Sabha (Presently 05 seats are vacant),
2. 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, and
3. 543 elected members of Lok Sabha (Presently 01 seat is vacant).

            Electoral College comprises of a total of 788 members (Presently, 782 members) of both Houses of Parliament. Since, all the electors are members of both Houses of Parliament, the value of vote of each Member of Parliament would be same i.e. 1 (one).

5.         Article 66 (1) of the Constitution provides that the election shall be held in accordance with the system of Proportional Representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot.  In this system, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates. Preference can be marked in the international form of Indian numerals, in Roman form, or in the form in any recognised Indian languages. Preference has to be marked in figures only and shall not be indicated in words. The elector can mark as many preferences as the number of candidates. While the marking of the first preference is compulsory for the ballot paper to be valid, other preferences are optional.

6.         For marking the vote, the Commission will supply particular pens. The pen will be given to the electors in the polling station by the designated official when the ballot paper is handed over. Electors have to mark the ballot only with this particular pen and not with any other pen. Voting by using any other pen shall lead to invalidation of the vote at the time of counting.

7.         The Election Commission, in consultation with the Central Government, has appointed the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha as the Returning Officer for the present election to the Office of the Vice-President of India, vide Notification dated 25^th July, 2025. The Commission has also appointed two Assistant Returning Officers in Parliament House (Rajya Sabha) to assist the Returning Officer, vide Notification dated 25^th July, 2025. 

8.         As per Rule 8 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974, poll for the election will be taken in the Parliament House. The polling, if required, shall take place at Room No. F-101, Vasudha, First Floor, Parliament House, New Delhi.

9.         As per the Schedule of the election, the nomination paper of a candidate must be delivered to the Returning Officer at New Delhi in the place to be specified by him by a public notice that will be issued by him (in Form-1 appended to the Presidential and Vice- Presidential Elections Rules, 1974), and at no other place. Under the law, nomination (in prescribed Form 3) can be filed either by the candidate himself or by any of his proposers or seconders between 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. Nomination cannot be filed on public holidays. A nomination paper of a candidate has to be subscribed by at least twenty electors as proposers and by at least other twenty electors as seconders.  No elector shall subscribe more than one nomination paper at the same election, as either a proposer or a seconder and is governed by Section 5B (5) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952. A candidate can file maximum of four nomination papers. The security deposit for the election is Rs.15,000/- (Rupees fifteen thousand only), which is required to be made along with the nomination paper, or should be deposited in Reserve Bank of India or a Govt. Treasury under the relevant Head of Accounts for the purpose, prior to filing of nomination.

10.       As per Rule 40 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974, the Commission shall maintain a list of members of the Electoral College referred to in Article 66 with their addresses correct up to date, for the purpose of Vice-Presidential election. The list of members of the Electoral College maintained by the Commission for the Vice-Presidential Election, 2025, would be available for sale @ Rs 100/- per copy from the counter opened in the premises of Election Commission of India from the date of notification.

11.       Each contesting candidate can authorize a representative to be present at the place of polling and at the place fixed for counting (counting hall). Authorization of representatives for this purpose shall be made by the candidate, in writing, at appropriate time.

12.       The Constitution has expressly provided that election to the office of Vice-President shall be by secret ballot.  Therefore, the electors are expected to scrupulously maintain secrecy of vote.  There is no concept of open voting in this election and showing the ballot to anyone under any circumstances in the case of Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections is totally prohibited. Voting procedure laid down in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974 provides that after marking the vote in the Voting Compartment, the elector is required to fold the ballot paper and insert it in the Ballot Box. Any violation of the voting procedure will entail cancellation of the ballot paper by the Presiding Officer. As already mentioned in paragraph 6, marking of vote can be done only with the particular pen provided by the Presiding Officer to the electors at the place of polling.

13.       It is also clarified that political parties cannot issue any whip to their MPs in the matter of voting in the Vice-Presidential election. As per Section 18 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, the offence of ‘bribery’ or ‘undue influence’ as defined in Sections 170 and 171 of Bharatiya Nyay Samhita, by the returned candidate or any person with the consent of the returned candidate are among the grounds on which the election can be declared void by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in an election petition.

14.       The Assistant Returning Officers will assist the Returning Officer for the conduct of poll and transportation of ballot boxes and other important election materials from Election Commission to Parliament House and back to Election Commission, after the poll.

15.       The Commission also appoints Senior Officers of the Government of India as its Observers at the place of polling and counting.

16.       It has always been the Commission's endeavour to make elections eco-friendly. The election to the office of Vice-President of India, being an indirect election, does not involve election campaigning in the conventional way of displaying banners, posters, etc. Still, the Commission, in view of importance of this election, has directed the Returning Officer concerned to ensure use of eco-friendly and biodegradable material and eliminate the use of prohibited plastic/materials as per extant instructions of Government of India.

17.       Counting of votes, if required, will be held in New Delhi under the supervision of the Returning Officer. On completion of counting, Return of Election (in Form 7 appended to the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974) will be signed and issued by the Returning Officer.

18.       In pursuance of sub-section (1) of Section (4) of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, the Election Commission of India has fixed the programme for the election to fill the office of the Vice-President of India as per Annexure-I.

19.       The information booklet covering all aspects of current election to the office of the Vice-President of India and past sixteen Vice-Presidential Elections is available on the ECI website. A copy of the said information booklet can also be obtained @ Rs. 50/- per copy from the Commission’s sale counter.

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PK/GDH/RP

ANNEXURE-I

Election to the Office of the Vice-President of India, 2025 (17^th Vice-Presidential Election)

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