Margaret Alva expressed her gratitude for the support she’d been getting on her campaign trail.
Staff Reporter
Margaret Alva, the Opposition’s candidate for the upcoming vice-presidential polls on Thursday made an appeal to all MPs to vote without fear or political pressure.
In the election scheduled to be held on August 6, Alva will face the National Democratic Alliance’s nominee, former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
“It’s a privilege and an honour for me to be a candidate in the election to the post of the vice president of India, supported by a large number of political parties,” Alva said, also detailing her work as a member of both Houses, as well as Union minister and governor, over the last 50 years.
As secret ballot is used for V-P polls, members should vote for who they think is the better candidate, instead of simply following their party’s line, Alva, the joint opposition’s candidate, said in a video message two days before the election.
Alva – a former governor of Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Goa, respectively – remarked that the vice presidential election is ‘not just any other election’.
“It should be seen as a referendum on the manner in which the Parliament is being run. Today, it is virtually at a standstill, with communication between members non-existent. This diminishes Parliament in the eyes of the people,” she explained.
Pitching herself as the right candidate to be the next holder of the country’s second highest office, the former Congress leader urged MPs to use their secret ballot to choose ‘the best candidate available’ without pressure from their political parties.
Alva vowed that if elected as the successor to M Venkaiah Naidu – whose term ends on August 10 – she would forge consensus on issues of national importance, and work with each parliamentarian to restore the glory of Parliament.