BackJagdeep Dhankhar to take oath as 14th Vice President of India today
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar will take oath as the 14th Vice President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan today
PremiumJagdeep Dhankhar, Former West Bengal Governor and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate will take oath as the next Vice President of India' on Thursday. His oath will be administered by president Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 11:45 am today.
On 6 August, Dhankhar was elected as the Vice President after defeating the Opposition's Margaret Alva comfortably. He emerged victorious with 528 votes against Alva's 182.
“I will begin the day by visiting Raj Ghat and paying my respects to Pujya Bapu at 8.30 AM at Rajghat." Dhankhar tweeted, as he will be taking Oath of the Office later today.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey jointly signed the 'Certification of the Election of Jagdeep Dhankhar as the next Vice President of India' on 7 August.
With 74.36 per cent votes Dhankhar has the highest winning margin in the last six vice presidential elections held since 1997. The Vice President is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
The returning officer of the vice presidential election said of the total 780 electors, 725 cast their ballots but 15 votes were found to be invalid. The turnout was 92.94 per cent, he said, adding that a candidate needed 356 votes to get elected.
As many as 55 MPs did not vote in the vice presidential election. Trinamool Congress, which has a total of 36 MPs, including 23 in Lok Sabha, had abstained from the election. However, two of its MPs had cast their ballots.
Dhankhar was born on May 18, 1951in a village in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district to an agrarian household. He completed his school education from Sainik School, Chittorgarh. He pursued LLB from the University of Rajasthan after finishing his graduation in physics. Despite being a first-generation professional, he became one of the leading lawyers in the state.
Dhankhar, 71, has practised in both the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court of India. He was elected as a Member of Parliament from Jhunjhunu in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections on a Janata Dal ticket.
He also served as a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990. His politics was initially influenced by Devi Lal, former deputy Prime Minister.
Dhankhar later shifted focus to state politics and was elected to the Rajasthan Assembly in 1993 from the Kishangarh constituency in Ajmer district.
Dhankhar was appointed as the Governor of West Bengal in 2019. He resigned from the post of West Bengal Governor on July 17 after his name was announced as the vice Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Dhankar will preside over the proceedings of the Upper House of Parliament at a time when there are apparent divisions between the treasury benches and the opposition.
With Dhankhar's election as Vice-President, the presiding officers of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will be from Rajasthan.
The Vice President of India, which is the second-highest constitutional post in the country, is elected through an electoral college consisting of members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
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