Hamid Ansari declared winner in 2012 vice presidential elections

New Delhi, Aug 7 (ANI): India's incumbent Vice-President, Hamid Ansari, will continue in the same office for the next five years after winning the 2012 vice presidential elections convincingly on Tuesday.

Ansari will be only the second person in independent India's history to serve two consecutive terms as vice president and Rajya Sabha chariman, the first one being Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

UPA-backed Ansari secured 490 votes, comprehensively surpassing his NDA-backed rival Jaswant Singh's tally of 238 votes.

The Returning Officer for the vice presidential elections and Lok Sabha Secretary-General T.K. Vishwanathan announced that out of the 787 MPs eligibe to vote, 736 had exercised their franchise. Out of these 736, eight votes were declared invalid.

He said that out of the 728 legal votes cast, 490 had gone to Ansari, while 238 had gone in favour of Jaswant Singh.

The vice president of India is elected through a direct ballot with Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members (including nominated) comprising the Electoral College.

A total of 790 MPs were eligible to cast their votes today to elect the nation's 14th vice president. (ANI)