Kharge calls Alva better candidate than Dhankhar for vice-prez polls

Congress leader Kharge on Sunday said the joint opposition candidate for Vice-President Margaret Alva is better than the ruling National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said the joint opposition candidate for Vice-President Margaret Alva is better than the ruling National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar.

"Our candidate is from the minority and is better than their candidate. If they will support our candidate (Margaret Alva) then it will be a unanimous poll," Kharge told ANI.

The Congress' leader's remarks came after Bharatiya Janata Party chief JP Nadda appealed to Opposition parties to support Jagdeep Dhankhar in Vice-Presidential polls.

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Margaret Alva has been named as the Opposition's joint candidate for the August 6 vice presidential election.

"Opposition's candidate for the post of Vice President of India is to be Margaret Alva," said NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

The Opposition leaders finalised Alva's name after a meeting held at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar which was attended by all major opposition parties including the Congress, TMC, CPIM, RJD, SP, and others.

Alva has earlier served as the governor of Rajasthan. Born in Mangalore in 1942, She was made Central Minister at the age of 42, which in those days was a rarity. Her father belonged to the Indian Civil Service. She was married into the Alva family, from Mangalore.

She was elected for four successive terms to the Rajya Sabha, and one term in the Lok Sabha. Alva assumed several responsibilities, under Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao.

The announcement came a day after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) said West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will be its candidate for the Vice Presidential election.

Born in an agrarian household in a remote village in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district, NDA Vice Presidential candidate Dhankhar completed his school education from Sainik School, Chittorgarh.

After finishing his graduation in Physics, he pursued LLB from the University of Rajasthan. Despite being a first-generation professional, he became one of the leading lawyers in Rajasthan.

Dhankhar has practiced in both the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court of India. He entered public life after getting elected as a Member of Parliament from Jhunjhunu in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections. Subsequently, he also served as a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990. In 1993, he was elected to the Rajasthan Assembly from the Kishangarh constituency in Ajmer district.

In July 2019, he was appointed as the Governor of West Bengal.

Nominations for the vice-presidential polls slated to be held on August 6, began on Tuesday.

The Election Commission made an announcement of the elections for the 16th vice president of India to take place on August 6, 2022. In 2017, the NDA had nominated Venkaiah Naidu as its candidate for the vice-presidential election and he went on to become India's 15th vice president. His term ends on August 10, 2022.

Yashwant Sinha is the candidate of the Opposition parties for the presidential election while Draupadi Murmu is NDA's presidential candidate. The Presidential election will take place on July 18.