Current affairs

It's official: Jagdeep Dhankhar is India's new Vice President...Congratulations pour in!

By TNSCorrespondent, 06 August, 2022
Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice Presidential election, BJP

The already known result is official now. Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is India's new Vice President as the results of the election were declared in the evening hours of Saturday - August 6. With the comfortable triumph, Dhankhar defeated Margaret Alva, who was the opposition's candidate, by a huge margin. As Dhankhar is all set to assume the nation's second highest office, he has been in the rain of congratulations from across the country.

The electoral college to elect the Vice President consists of the MPs of both the houses of Parliament. As the BJP-led NDA has a good majority and support in Parliament, Dhankhar was leading the race from the beginning. Parliament has 780 MPs and of this total tally, Dhankhar has secured 528 votes against Alva, who ended up getting 182 votes. While the required number of votes to win is 372, Dhankhar's tally has shown that he has got two-thirds of the votes from the electoral college. 

While 71-year-old Jagdeep Dhankhar is a Jat leader from Rajasthan who served as the Governor of West Bengal, 80-year-old Margaret Alva is a veteran Congress leader and has served as Governor of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Dhankhar was an advocate and he has a rich career history at the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court. He also had served as the junior parliamentary affairs minister at the Centre. 

In politics, Dhankhar was associated with the Janata Dal and the Congress before joining the BJP in 2008. He was serving as the Governor of West Bengal when his candidacy for Vice President was announced by the Centre ruling BJP. He was leading the race and the polls were held on Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm in Parliament. As the nation is electing a top constitutional post, voting has gained huge attention. 

The votes were immediately counted after the polling and it was declared that Jagdeep Dhankhar has won the election. It has been reported that around 93 per cent polling was recorded with more than 50 MPs not exercising their franchise. With the huge triumph, Dhankhar will be succeeding Venkaiah Naidu as India's next Vice President and Rajya Sabha's next chairman. 

Ever since the result was officially announced, Dhankhar has been in the rain of congratulations from across the country. President Droupadi Murmu took to Twitter and wrote, "Congratulations to Jagdeep Dhankhar on being elected the Vice President of India. The nation will benefit from your long and rich experience of public life. My best wishes for a productive and successful tenure." 

Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to Twitter and wrote, "I believe that as Vice President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Dhankhar Ji will prove to be an ideal custodian of the constitution. I congratulate him on this victory. Also, under the leadership of Modi Ji, I express my gratitude to NDA allies, other parties and members for supporting Dhankhar Ji." Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President JP Nadda have congratulated Dhankar on being elected as the Vice President by visiting him at his residence. 

 

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