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New Delhi: The UPA and NDA are in a mood to contest the deputy chairperson’s post which falls vacant next week as Najma Heptullah’s term ends shortly. Parliamentary affairs minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that the Congress would not back Heptullah’s candidacy for another term and that it wants it own nominee getting elected. 

He said that since other three presiding officers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are from non-Congress parties, the deputy chairperson’s job should go to his party. He expressed hope that the spirit of consensus that had prevailed between the ruling coalition and the opposition while electing the Parliament speaker, deputy speaker and chairperson would continue for the fourth post also. But the BJP declared that it would contest the post and it is likely that Heptullah would be its candidate.

The Congress is confident that its candidate, said to be Mohsina Kidwai, would win because in the 245-member house, the Congress and its allies have more than 119 MPs while the NDA has only 92 MPs. A candidate needs only 122 votes to win, which meant UPA needs just three votes. «