New Delhi, July 17: Opposition parties announced Sunday that former Union minister and governor Margaret Alva is their candidate for the vice-presidential election scheduled to be held next month.
Opposition parties on Sunday met to choose the Vice Presidential candidate at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence. Many senior leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut and TRS's K Keshava Rao were in attendance.
The winner of the Vice Presidential election is clear though, if MPs vote as per their party affiliations. The Opposition candidate will not poll even half of what the ruling NDA’s nominee Jagdeep Dhankar will get.
Announcing the decision, Pawar said that 17 Opposition parties have unanimously decided on Margaret Alva’s name.
Alva, a five-term Member of Parliament, has served as a minister at the Centre and as the governor of Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
She has formerly served as the Cabinet Minister. She took over in Rajasthan from the Punjab governor, Shivraj Patil, who had been holding an additional charge of that state. Before being appointed governor, she was a senior figure in the Indian National Congress and was Joint Secretary of the All India Congress Committee. Her mother-in-law, Violet Alva, was Second Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha in 1960s.
Margaret Alva was born Margaret Nazareth on 14 April 1942in a Roman Catholic family at Mangaluru, Karnataka. She obtained a BA degree from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore and a law degree from Government Law College in the same city.[3] She was a keen and appreciated debater during her time at college and had some involvement in students' movements.
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