Jagdeep Dhankhar new Vice President of India, defeats Margaret Alva

Jagdeep Dhankhar, former West Bengal Governor, has been elected as the new Vice-President of India. Dhankhar, who was nominated by NDA as its vice presidential candidate, sailed through the polls with BJP support alone.

New Delhi:NDA candidate and former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was elected as the new Vice-President of India on Saturday. Dhankhar, 71, sailed through the polls with BJP support alone leaving his opponent Margaret Alva, 80, at a distant second. Dhankhar got 528 votes against opposition candidate Margaret Alva who got 182 votes.

Dhankar reached Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi's residence at 11 Akbar Road before the announcement of the results for the Vice Presidential Election. Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh, who was the presiding officer for the 16th Vice Presidential election, said that of the 780 MPs eligible to cast votes, 725 MPs cast their vote. Fifteen votes were found invalid and 710 votes were valid.

The polling to elect the new vice president began at 10 am today and concluded at 5 pm. The counting of votes began after 6 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was amongst the first leaders to cast his vote. Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh and BJP president JP Nadda also cast their votes. Dr Manmohan Singh arrived in a wheelchair to cast his vote. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also cast his vote besides other MPs.

The next Vice-President of the country will take the oath of office on August 11, a day after the term of the incumbent Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu ends. Janata Dal (United), YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK had announced support for Dhankhar. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) extended support to Alva. The Trinamool Congress abstained from the vote.

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). 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. The Vice President of India is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Who is Jagdeep Dhankhar?

Dhankhar was born on May 18, 1951, in Kithana, a small village in Rajasthan. He is married to Sudesh Dhankhar and they have a daughter. He graduated with honours in physics from Maharaja's College in Jaipur and an LLB degree from Jaipur University in 1978-79. Before that he had schooled at Sainik School, Chittorgarh on a full merit scholarship after his primary education from the government school at village Kithana in Jhunjhunu.

A lawyer by profession, Dhankhar forayed into politics in 1989 and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan that same year, and became a Union Minister in 1990. Dhankhar, who practiced in Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court, was designated a senior advocate in 1990, the same year he became a Union minister. He was also a member of the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha from 1993 to 1998 representing Kishangarh constituency.

The lawyer-turned politician was appointed the Governor of West Bengal in July 2019 and has since had a tumultuous relationship with the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state. The TMC leadership has often accused him of acting as an "agent of the BJP", while the saffron party in the state looked upon him as an "upholder of constitutional norms".