Vice-Presidential poll 2022: Jagdeep Dhankhar to become 14th VP of India

Former West Bengal Governor and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar was elected as India’s 14th Vice-President on Saturday.

Dhankhar will take oath of office on August 11--a day after the term of the incumbent M Venkaiah Naidu ends. He will be appointed the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Dhankhar received 528 votes defeating the opposition’s candidate, Margaret Alva, who got 182 votes, Lok Sabha secretary Utpal Kumar Singh said.

Congratulating Dhankhar, Union home minister Amit Shah in a tweet said, "Kisan Putra Shri @jdhankhar1 ji being elected as the Vice President of India is a matter of joy for the whole country.

"Dhankhar ji has been continuously associated with the public in his long public life. The Upper House will definitely benefit from the close understanding of the ground issues and their experience," he added.

 

Newly-elected President, Droupadi Murmu, also congratulated Dhankhar and said the nation will benefit from his long and rich experience of public life.

Opposition candidate Margaret Alva is a Congress veteran and has served as governor of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. 

Counting of votes for the vice-presidential election began Saturday evening after around 93 per cent of the members of Parliament cast their ballots.

The counting started at 6 pm under the supervision of the Lok Sabha Secretary General, who is the returning officer for the poll.

As many as 725 MPs voted in the election, polling for which started at 10 pm and ended at 5 pm.

The Vice President of India is elected by an electoral college consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting in such election is by secret ballot.

The Electoral College to elect a person to the office of the Vice-President consists of all members of both Houses of Parliament.

The Vice-President is not a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of a Legislature of any state.

If a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of a Legislature of any state is elected as Vice-President, he is deemed to have vacated his seat in that House on the date he/she enters his/her office as Vice-President.