Jagdeep Dhankhar, also a former governor of West Bengal becomes victorious in the Vice-Presidential elections. He became triumphant by achieving the highest winning margins ever since the Vice-Presidential elections of 1997.
Jagdeep Dhankhar, also the former governor of West Bengal takes his oath as 14th Vice-President of India in Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 11. To become the Vice-President, he contested against Congress’s Marget Alva on August 6 only to win the highest number of votes.
He victoriously won more than the majority percent of the votes over her by securing 74.36 percent of the votes. This is also the highest ever vote for Vice-President ever since the last six presidential elections since 1997. It was an easy win for him.
He succeeds former Vice-President M Venkiah Naidu to be chosen for this post.
In an oath ceremony on Thursday, he takes an oath in Hindi as the Vice President. Before taking the oath, he also made a visit to Raj Ghat to pay a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.
The ceremony also saw the presence of dignitaries such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his predecessor V-P M Venkiah Naidu. Other dignitaries like Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, Former President Ramnath Kovind along with parliamentarians were also present at the meeting.
Rajya Sabha to have a New Chairperson now
The oath ceremony was discharged by Draupadi Murmu, the new President of the country who too was elected recently. With this, Jagdeep Dhankhar becomes the 14th Vice-President of the country and Rajya Sabha Chairman by default.
New Vice President referred to as “Kisan Putra”
PM Modi has time and again quoted him as “Kisan-Putra”(farmer’s son) in his tweets.
Dhankhar comes from a farming background. He worked as a lawyer at the Rajasthan High Court before entering politics winning the 1989 Lok Sabha Election.
He has been working with the party for two decades now since he joined it in the 2000s. In 2019, he was appointed as the governor of west Bengal.
He resigned from the post last month to get into the Vice-Presidential contest.
Becoming the second Vice President of the country from Rajasthan, only after Bhairon Singh also had the support of various non-BJP parties.
Roles and Responsibilities of Jagdeep Dhankhar as the Vice-President
Vice President is the ex-officio chairperson of Rajya Sabha and does not hold any other office of profit. Being the Vice-President now, Dhankhar would have to take on key responsibilities such as chairing Rajya Sabha, Council of States, etc.
He will be holding the second-highest constitutional office of the country and in absence of the President (due to death while in office, resignation, or removal of the incumbent) would also act as the new President of the country.
Read More: Vice-President M Venkiah Naidu completes his tenure on August 10 (asianatimes.com)
Vice President assumes the Role of the President
During the case when the Vice-President gets a chance to become President and he does not chair the council of states. He won’t be eligible to get the payable amount or allowance of the Rajya Sabha Chairperson. As he would get the amount paid to the President of the country and would take the role of President.
Vice President Removal
VP can be removed by a resolution passed by the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha by a consensus of the majority members.
The Supreme Court also holds authority for the removal of the Vice-president. If SC discovers that V-P is not fulfilling its obligations and eligibility Criteria or is involved in any type of malpractice. Article 71(1) of the Indian Constitution, gives authority to the SC to remove the V-P for conducting contempt of the constitution.
