Margaret Alva as Opposition's VP pick: The proverbial sacrificial lamb

It is indeed a bold and courageous decision on the part of former union minister and Congress veteran Margaret Alva to agree to be the Opposition's vice-presidential candidate despite knowing that her defeat is imminent.

Alva, 80, was in political hibernation for some time now. In her last key assignment, she was the Rajasthan governor till 2014 soon after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed power at the Centre.

At Sunday's meeting, as many as 17 opposition parties endorsed her candidature.

There were two absentees from the opposition camp at a meeting called by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar at his Delhi residence on Sunday. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) both skipped the meeting.

Even if these two parties back her, Alva stands no chance against National Democratic Alliance (NDA) vice-presidential candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar.

According to Article 63 of the Constitution, there shall be a Vice President of India and under Article 64, the Vice President shall be ex-officio Chairman of the Council of the states, which is the Rajya Sabha.

The electoral college for the Vice-President's election comprises 788 members of Parliament. Out of these, 543 are from the Lok Sabha, 245 from the Rajya Sabha, including 12 nominated members.

However, the current strength of Parliament is 780. Out of these, 543 are from the Lok Sabha and 237 from the Rajya Sabha, including nine nominated members.

As of today, there are eight vacancies in the Rajya Sabha - five from Jammu and Kashmir and three from the nominated category.

Out of these 780, the BJP alone has 394 members, four more than the majority mark of 390.

Dhankhar is expected to get over 520 votes with the support of the YSR Congress Party, Biju Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party, Janata Dal (Secular) apart from the NDA constituents.

On the other hand, Alva is expected to get just 256 votes and these include 22 from the Shiv Sena, which is otherwise supporting NDA presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu.

Despite the numbers stacked against her, Alva decided to take the plunge.

This is not the first time she is swimming against the tide. The veteran leader is known for speaking her mind.

Just before the 2008 assembly elections in Karnataka, Alva, in a scathing attack, aimed at party colleagues Prithviraj Chavan, Digvijaya Singh and Vayalar Ravi, had created a flutter by alleging that the party tickets were sold by senior leaders.

She had to bear the brunt for that for some years as she was removed from all the posts and was also not considered for a ministerial berth in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

In her autobiography, Courage and Commitment, Alva blamed senior leader AK Antony for being punished for remarks and claimed that he had done so to seek revenge from her for she had once recommended his removal as the Kerala chief minister.

The Congress high command finally decided to rehabilitate Alva by appointing her as the Uttarakhand governor in 2009. She later also served as governor of Gujarat and Goa.

Alva decided to contest against Dhankhar when no other prominent leader would have agreed to be the Opposition's sacrificial lamb. Alva has chosen not to read the writing on the wall and try to face the odds.