Ansari re-elected Indian VP

India's ruling UPA candidate Hamid Ansari was elected as India's vice president for an unprecedented second successive term as he defeated BJP nominee Jaswant Singh by an emphatic margin in the elections held yesterday.
Ansari, 75, polled votes of 490 members of both Houses of Indian Parliament while Jaswant secured 238 votes. Eight votes were declared invalid.
Members of Parliament comprise the electoral college for Vice Presidential poll. There are a total 790 members of both Houses of Parliament--Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The victory of Ansari was predictable given that he went to the poll with the backing of all UPA coalition constituent parties as also parties supporting the alliance from outside like Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and CPI (M).
Earlier, brisk polling was witnessed with 600 electors casting their votes by 1:00pm after the polling began at 10:00am.
His opposition, Jaswant Singh, 74, a former Minister of External Affairs and Finance, had the support of NDA and AIADMK.
Ansari, an Indian foreign service officer of 1961 batch, served in many positions, including as permanent representative of India to the United Nations, Indian high commissioner to Australia and ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia.