Mohammad Hamid Ansari wins Vice Presidential poll

UPA-Left candidate Mohammad Hamid Ansari was declared elected the country's 13th Vice President on Friday.

He won by a convincing margin in a triangular contest whose outcome was on expected lines.

The 70-year-old seasoned diplomat and academician trounced NDA candidate Najma Heptullah and UNPA nominee Rashid Masood, given the numbers heavily loaded in his favour.

Ansari got 455 votes against 222 secured by Heptullah while Masood finished a poor third polling 75 votes. Ten votes were declared invalid.

In all 762 members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha cast their votes in an all-Muslim contest. In the electoral college of 788, the effective strength of the two Houses is 783.

The victory of Ansari, who will succeed Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, was a foregone conclusion as the BJP-led NDA as also the grouping of regional parties - UNPA - made it known earlier that they were in the fray so as to ensure that the poll does not go uncontested.

Shekhawat had resigned within hours after he lost to UPA-Left candidate Pratibha Patil on July 21 in the Presidential poll.

Ansari will take oath on Saturday at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan and would assume charge as Chairman of Rajya Sabha on Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi said.

BJP votes

Formally declaring the result, Rajya Sabha Secretary General Yogendra Narain, who is also the Returning Officer, said that because of the ten invalid votes, the total number of votes came down to 752 and the winning candidate was required to get at least the support of 377 MPs.

The voting percentage in the election was put at 97.31 per cent.

Narain said four members, who were in jail - Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, Afzal Ansari, Mohd Shahabuddin and Babubhai Katara - also cast their votes.

Of the ten invalid votes, six were marked in favour of Heptullah, three for Ansari and one for Masood, Dasmunshi said.

He said the UPA-Left nominee got 31 votes more than expected and the bulk of which came from the BJP.