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Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari filed the nomination papers for his re-election to the post here on Wednesday. Ansari submitted his nomination papers to Lok Sabha Secretary General T.K. Vishwanathan, who is the returning officer for the August 7 vice presidential election. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal were present on the occasion along with several other leaders of UPA constituents, including Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla were also present on the occasion to display their support for Ansari, who is the UPA's choice for the post of Vice President of India. Ansari is expected to get around 470 votes. If the Trinamool Congress (TMC) also decides to support his candidature, then he is expected to get over 500 votes. Ansari will lock horns with NDA candidate Jaswant Singh in the poll. Ansari's term as Vice President ends on August 10. Ansari, 75, a career diplomat who has also served as Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, will emulate the late philosopher-statesman S Radhakrishnan , who got two terms as vice-president between 1952 and 1962. In 2007, Ansari was a surprise choice for Vice President when the Left parties--which were supporting the UPA-I government from outside--proposed his name and the Congress-led alliance accepted it. He secured 455 votes, and won the election by a margin of 233 votes against his nearest rival Najma Heptullah. The Vice-President is elected by an electoral college consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting in such election is by secret ballot. The Electoral College to elect a person to the office of the Vice-President consists of all members of both Houses of Parliament*. The Vice-President is not a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of a Legislature of any state. If a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of a Legislature of any state is elected as Vice-President, he is deemed to have vacated his seat in that House on the date he/she enters his office as Vice-President. The Vice-President of India is the second highest constitutional office in the country. He serves for a five-year term, but can continue to be in office, irrespective of the expiry of the term, until the successor assumes office. The Constitution is silent on who performs the duties of the Vice-President, when a vacancy occurs in the office of the Vice-President of India, before the expiry of his term, or when the Vice-President acts as the President of India. The only provision in the Constitution is with regard to the Vice-President's function as the Chairperson of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), which is performed, during the period of such vacancy, by the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, or any other member of the Rajya Sabha authorised by the President of India.

Hamid Ansari files nomination for Vice Prez poll