Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu kicks off poll process for deputy chairman

Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday set in motion the process for election of the deputy chairman of the House, holding talks on the issue with the Parliamentary Affairs Minister.

According to sources, the RS chairman called Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar and discussed the polling procedures and various precedents regarding the election of deputy chairman.

During the deliberations held today, RS Secretary General Desh Dipak Verma was also present.

Hectic deliberations are on among the opposition parties to wrest the post. Some opposition parties are of the view that the post should go to a non-BJP, non-Congress party leader and some of them are in touch with with the Congress for its support to the proposal.

The RS deputy chairman's post falls vacant on July 2 on the expiry of the tenure of incumbent P J Kurien as a member of the Upper House a day before.

As per Rule 7 (1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States, the Chairman of Rajya Sabha will fix the date of election which is to be informed to every member.

As per the election schedule, notices for the election received are arranged in order of point of time of their receipt and included in the List of Business for the day, on which the election has been scheduled.

As per the procedure prescribed in Sub-Rules 2, 3 and 4 of the Rule 7 of the Rules of Procedure, any member may give notice in writing addressed to the Secretary General, before noon on the day before the election date, of a motion that another member may be chosen as deputy chairman, the sources said.

This notice shall be accompanied by a statement by the member whose name is proposed in the notice that he is willing to serve as deputy chairman, if elected.

Kurien was elected as deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha on August 21, 2012.