Jagdeep Dhankhar to take oath as 14th Vice President of India today
On August 7, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey jointly signed the ‘Certification of the Election of Jagdeep Dhankar as the next Vice President of India’. The BJP-led NDA candidate won the election comfortably with 528 votes against Alva’s 182.
Jagdeep Dhankhar, who will be sworn in as India’s 14th Vice President on Thursday afternoon, began his day by visiting Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial. Dhankhar tweeted, “Felt blessed, inspired, and motivated to be ever in service of Bharat in the serene sublimity of Raj Ghat while paying respects to Pujya Bapu.” The inauguration of Dhankar will take place at 12.30 p.m. in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
— Jagdeep Dhankhar Vice-President Elect of India (@jdhankhar1) August 11, 2022
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar was elected as the country’s 14th Vice President in a landslide victory over the Opposition’s candidate Margaret Alva.
Dhankhar, a former West Bengal governor who will also preside over the Rajya Sabha, which has seen opposition protests over a variety of issues, received 528 votes to Alva’s 182. His margin of victory was the largest since 1997. The electoral college for vice presidential elections is made up of members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
Soon after Dhankhar, 71, was declared the winner with a massive vote share of more than 74%, the highest in the previous six vice-presidential elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met him and congratulated him on his victory, saying it was a proud moment for India to have a “kisan putra” (farmer’s son) as vice president.
Dhankhar will be Rajasthan’s second vice president, succeeding Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who served from 2002 to 2007. With Dhankhar’s election, Rajasthan will have the presiding officers of both Houses of Parliament. Om Birla, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rajasthan’s Kota, is currently the Lok Sabha speaker. The odds were heavily stacked in Dhankhar’s favour because the ruling BJP has an absolute majority in Lok Sabha and 91 members in Rajya Sabha.
Even before the results were announced, celebrations began outside Minister Pralhad Joshi’s residence, where Dhankhar was present.
Joyous scenes were also reported from Dhankhar’s hometown of Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. Hordes of people gathered in Jhunjhunu’s Kithana village to celebrate Dhankhar’s birthday. Sweets were also given out.
Dhankhar, who had previously been associated with the Janata Dal and the Congress, joined the BJP only in 2008, after a nearly decade hiatus during which he focused on his legal career. Dhankhar’s long legal career at the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court, as well as a brief stint as the Centre’s junior parliamentary affairs minister, are expected to come in handy as he presides over the Rajya Sabha.
He has advocated for Other Backward Classes issues, such as granting OBC status to the Jat community in Rajasthan. While announcing his candidacy for the vice-presidential election, the BJP referred to Dhankhar as a “kisan putra,” a move seen in political circles as an attempt to reach out to the politically significant Jat community, which had participated in large numbers in the year-long farmers’ protests on the borders of the national capital against agriculture reform measures unveiled in June 2020.
