Vice-Presidential Election 2017 updates: Venkaiah Naidu defeats Gandhi by 272 votes

Members of Parliament (MPs) of both houses will elect India's 15th vice-president on Saturday, August 5. The voting will take place between 10 am and 5 pm, followed by the counting of votes. The result is expected to be declared around 7 pm on Friday. 

BJP chooses Venkaiah Naidu as its candidate for vice-presidential elections: Challenge for Congress?

A total of 790 MPs will be deciding the fate of NDA candidate M Venkaiah Naidu and Opposition nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

While our former Union minister Naidu is a veteran BJP leader, Gandhi, the former West Bengal governor is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and a former diplomat as well.

Here are the LIVE updates:

7 pm IST: Venkaiah Naidu has won the election by 272 votes. 

6 pm IST: Counting of votes has begun. This should be over in a matter of minutes. 

Meanwhile, of the 14 MPs who have not voted, two each are from the the BJP and the Congress, four each from the IUML and the Trinamool Congress, one each from the NCP and the PMK, and two Independents.

5:30 pm IST: Counting of votes begins in another half an hour. The result should be out within another 10-15 minutes. 

5:05 pm IST: The casting of votes has ended. Around 98.22 percent of the votes — 771 out of 785, to be exact — have been cast. 

2:30 pm IST: According to the assistant Returning Officer Mukul Pandey, 90.83 per cent lawmakers have cast their vote in vice presidential elections as of 1 pm.

2:02 pm IST: According to ANI, 713 votes have been polled till now.

1:40 pm IST: BJP MP Hema MalinIi says, "Everybody loves him (Venkaiah Naidu) a lot, he is most capable, he knows entire Parliament, the whole politics."

1:30 pm IST: Rajya Sabha MP Rekha and Lok Sabha MP Dimple Yadav cast their vote.

1:10 pm IST: Home Minister Rajnath Singh who has also cast his vote has said that the picture will be clear by Saturday evening.

1:07 pm IST: Cricketer and RS MP, Sachin Tendulkar has also cast his vote. 

12:30 pm IST:  Congress parliamentarians including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Deepender Singh Hooda and Sushmita Dev have cast their vote.

12:12 pm IST: Congress president Sonia Gandhi casts her vote in the Parliament house.

12:10 pm IST: Former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress VP Rahul Gandhi and former deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani reaches at Parliament.

11:54 am IST: Maharashtra Congress leader, Shehzad Poonawalla also took to twitter to express his view about the vice-presidential election.

11:30 am IST: Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh took to Twitter and sought a fair voting to elect the next Vice President of India.  "I request the honourable members to vote in support of country, not their respective parties," Singh was quoted by the Hindustan Times.

10: 55 am IST: 'I think we will miss him (Venkaiah Naidu) in one place, but you will see more action in another place," says Manohar Parrikar.

10:50 am IST: Union minister Prakash Javadekar tells media he is sure of Naidu's victory. "I am sure of the victory. I hope that all members will vote. All NDA partners and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have described Venkaiah as unique personality. He will do justice for the post that he would hold from today," Javedkar was quoted by the Hindustan Times.

10:47 am IST: Union Minister of State for Road Transport Pon Radhakrishnanon is on his way to vote.

10:45 am IST: Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar casts his vote.

10:43 am IST: Gujarat Congress MLAs leave Eagleton Resort in Bengaluru to vote in the Vice Presidential Elections.

10:42 am IST: Venkaiah Naidu has cast his vote.

10:40 am IST: : BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Subramanian Swamy cast their votes for electing the next Vice-President at the Parliament House in New Delhi.

10:35 am IST: MPs are casting their votes

10:25 am IST: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cast his vote at Parliament House to elect the next Vice-President.

10:22 am IST: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath arrive to cast their vote during the Vice-President election.

10:15 am IST: "Can't call it 1 sided as there were 2 candidates,Meiraji got a lot of votes but only one emerges as winner," says Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

10:13 am IST: 

10:08 am IST: Opposition nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi has said that Venkaiah Naidu is an experienced person. "No competition as such between us,only technically there is," says Gandhi

10:06 am IST: 

10:03 am IST:Venkaiah Naidu reaches Parliament to cast vote.

10:00 am IST: Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaches Parliament, reports DD news.

9:45 am IST: 

9:42 am IST: Naidu also stated his reason as to why he is not campaigning.

"I am known to all members of Parliament & they are known to me, that's why I'm not even campaigning," says the former Union Minister.

9:41 am IST: "I am not contesting against anybody, individual or party; I'm contesting for Vice President of India," says Naidu.

9:40 am IST: Naidu is confident about his victory.

"I am a non-party man. Majority of parties in India are supporting my candidature, confident that they all will vote in election," says Naidu.

9:36 am IST: NDA candidate Venkaiah Naidu on his way to cast his vote in the Parliament.

9:35 am IST: According to latest reports, no whip can be issued by political parties as the election is through a secret ballot.

9:33 am IST: Members of Parliament will use special pens for marking their choice in the vice-presidential election to be held between 10am and 5pm on Saturday.

9:30 am IST:  According to reports, the MPs made different mistakes, six were "completely wrong" while five had to seek fresh ballot papers. The remaining five made mistakes which could get their votes declared invalid if the Opposition insisted.

9:16 am IST: 16 lawmakers' votes were found to be invalid despite the lessons. They were given a second chance to get it right and were cautioned to be careful while viting on Saturday.

9:03 am IST:  BJP and its allies attended a workshop on how to vote on Friday. It was followed by a "dummy vote" to ensure minimum invalid votes today.

8:30 am IST: As NDA has 337 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 80 in the Rajya Sabha, Naidu has the support of 484 of the total 790 MPs in both the houses.

8:12 am IST: However, the MPs of the Janata Dal (United) will be voting for Gandhi despite their alliance with the BJP as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had promised his support to the opposition party prior the alliance.

8:03 am IST: The BJP led NDA candidate NDA Naidu enjoys majority when the combined strength of both houses of Parliament is taken into consideration. He also has the support of three non-NDA parties - AIADMK, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress. 

8:00 am IST: The Electoral College consists of following members: a) 233 elected and 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha. (Total: 245). b) 543 elected and 2 nominated members of the Lok Sabha (Total: 545). The grand total comes to 790.

Union Minister of State for Road Transport,