Vice presidential election: Approximately 93% of MPs voted in the vice presidential election, with more than 50 not exercising their franchise.
New Delhi: On Saturday(Aug 06), National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar were elected as India’s new Vice President. He received 528 votes, while opposition candidate Margaret Alva received 182 votes.
Utpal Kumar Singh, the Lok Sabha Secretary General who presided over the 16th Vice Presidential election, stated that 725 of the 780 MPs eligible to vote did so. 15 votes were discovered to be invalid, while 710 were discovered to be valid.
The vice presidential election was voted on by members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated members. The odds were stacked in favour of the NDA’s candidate, former West Bengal governor Dhankhar, who was expected to win easily. His opponent, Alva, is an 80-year-old Congress veteran who has served as governor of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, while Dhankhar, 71, is a Jat leader from Rajasthan with a socialist background.
Opposition parties led by the Indian National Congress chose Margaret Alva as their vice presidential candidate (INC). Members of India’s Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, the country’s two houses of parliament, comprise the electoral college that selects the country’s vice-president. Members of these houses who have been nominated are also eligible to vote. A secret ballot is used in the voting process.
Jagdeep Dhankhar: Who is He?
- Dhankhar, a Rajasthan native, was the former governor of West Bengal and was frequently in the news for his clashes with the Mamata Banerjee regime and her party, the Trinamool Congress.
- He was born on May 18, 1951, in Kithana village of the state’s Jhunjhunu district and attended Sainik School in Chittorgarh.
- He studied Physics at the University of Rajasthan and obtained his LLB.
- Dhankhar then went on to practise law in the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court.
- He entered politics in 1989 and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan the following year.
- Later, he was a minister of state for parliamentary affairs in Chandra Shekhar’s Janata Dal government.
- Dhankhar served in the Rajasthan assembly from 1993 to 1998, representing the Kishangarh constituency in the Ajmer district.
- He is from the Jat community and will be the country’s first OBC Vice President.
