Vice Presidential Election: Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Wednesday announced support to NDA’s vice-president candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar. The BSP chief himself gave this information through a statement on Twitter.

“Keeping in view the larger public interest and its own agitation, the BSP has decided to extend its support to Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar in the election of the vice-president, which I am also formally announcing today,” Mayawati said.

The opposition has fielded former Union minister Margaret Alva as its vice-presidential candidate against Jagdeep Dhankhar. The election of Dhankhar as Vice President and ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha is almost certain as the BJP is in majority in the electoral college of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Mayawati had earlier supported Droupadi Murmu in the presidential election, alleging that the opposition ignored her party while choosing Yashwant Sinha as its candidate. She had insisted that his decision to support Droupadi Murmu was politically neutral and supported neither the BJP or the NDA.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) are among the opposition parties that had supported Droupadi Murmu’s candidature but supported Margaret Alva for the vice presidential election.

Meanwhile, in a surprising move, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to abstain from voting in the Vice Presidential election.