EC appoints Rajya Sabha Secy Gen as Returning Officer for Vice-Presidential poll

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday set the process rolling for the election of Vice-President, as it appointed the Secretary General of Rajya Sabha, PC Mody, as the Returning Officer to oversee the poll process.

The poll panel also appointed Garima Jain, Joint Secretary, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, and Vijay Kumar, Director, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, as Assistant Returning Officers for the Vice-Presidential election.

Later in the day, the appointments were notified through a gazette notification also.

“In pursuance of sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 (31 of 1952), the Election Commission, in consultation with the Central Government, hereby appoints the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha, Parliament House, New Delhi, to be the Returning Officer for the Vice-Presidential Election, 2025," the notification said.

The Tribune had reported on July 24 that the notification for the Vice-President’s election is likely to be issued within a week as the polls are to be conducted during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. The session had begun on July 21 and will continue till August 21.

The election for the post of Vice-President were necessitated after Jagdeep Dhankhar had resigned from the post on July 21, citing health reasons.

The ECI, under Article 324, is mandated to conduct the election to the office of the Vice-President. According to Article 68(2) of the Constitution, there is no fixed timeline within which the Vice-Presidential election must be held in the event of a resignation. The provision mandates that the election be conducted “as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, the BJP-led alliance is learnt to have started the process of selecting a candidate for the post and is looking for a person who is rooted in the organisation and has been aligned with the party’s ideology for a long time as a committed worker.

Opposition parties have also indicated their keenness to contest the poll to send out a political message, irrespective of the outcome. They had contested against Dhankhar too, putting up Margaret Alva for the August 6, 2022, election.

Sources within the opposition bloc said the numbers are not overwhelmingly stacked against it despite the BJP-led NDA having a majority.

The effective strength of both the Houses (as both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha form the electoral college for Vice-President’s election) together is 782 and the winning candidate will require to win 392 votes in the election for the Vice-President, considering all eligible voters exercise their franchise. All members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including the nominated ones, vote in the Vice-Presidential poll.

In Lok Sabha, while the BJP-led NDA enjoys the support of 293 members in the 542-member House, the INDIA bloc has 234 members. The ruling alliance has the support of about 130 members in Rajya Sabha that has an effective strength of 240, assuming that the nominated members vote in support of the NDA nominee. The INDIA bloc has the support of 79 members in the Upper House.

Effectively, the NDA has a clear majority with 423 members and the INDIA bloc has 313 members in Parliament, the remaining ones being non-aligned.

Who is PC Mody

A retired Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the 1982 batch, PC Mody was in the news in 2021, when he had received his third extension as the chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), which made him one of the longest-serving chairpersons of the board.

In 2021 itself, just a few months after his retirement, Mody was appointed secretary general of the Rajya Sabha — the first IRS officer to become a member of the Upper or Lower House. In December 2024, Mody had received an extension.

In fact Mody’s appointment as Rajya Sabha Secretary General in November 2021 had been controversial, as the Opposition at that time had demanded to know why he had been brought in place of his predecessor, PPK Ramacharyulu, who was barely two months into the job.

Ramacharyulu was the first Rajya Sabha Secretariat official to have become Secretary General.

Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, at that time had expressed shock and surprise at Mody’s appointment, especially when Ramacharyulu had been appointed just two months ago. He had also wondered whether the Vice President who is also the Chairman of the Upper House, was consulted or not.

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