Jagdeep Dhankhar Sworn In As 14th Vice President Of India In Presence Of PM Modi, Ex-VP Hamid Ansari & Others

VP Jagdeep Dhankhar: Dhankhar was elected as a Vice President on August 6 after beating the Opposition's Margaret Alva with a huge margin. He won the election with 528 votes to Alva's 182.

Jagdeep Dhankhar, former West Bengal Governor, on Thursday took oath as the Vice President of India. The oath was administered by recently elected President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

Dhankhar, the NDA candidate, was elected as the Vice President on August 6 after beating the Opposition's Margaret Alva by a huge margin. He won the election with 528 votes to Alva's 182.

On August 7, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey signed the 'Certification of the Election of Jagdeep Dhankhar as the next Vice President of India.'

Dhankhar had the greatest victory margin in the previous six vice presidential elections since 1997, with 74.36 percent of the vote. The Vice President is also the Rajya Sabha's ex-officio Chairman.

The returning officer of the vice presidential election said of the total 780 electors, 725 cast their ballots but 15 votes were found to be invalid. The turnout was 92.94 per cent, he said, adding that a candidate needed 356 votes to get elected.

Who Is Jagdeep Dhankhar?

Dhankhar was born to an agricultural family on May 18, 1951 in a hamlet in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu region. He finished his schooling at Chittorgarh's Sainik School.

After earning his physics degree, he pursued LLB at the University of Rajasthan. Despite being a first-generation professional, he rose to become one of the state's top lawyers.

Dhankhar, 71, has appeared before the Rajasthan High Court as well as the Supreme Court of India.

In the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, he was elected as a Member of Parliament from Jhunjhunu on a Janata Dal ticket.

In 1990, he was also a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. Devi Lal, a former deputy prime minister, originally influenced his politics.

Dhankhar then moved his concentration to state politics, winning election to the Rajasthan Assembly from the Kishangarh constituency in the Ajmer district in 1993.

In 2019, Dhankhar was named Governor of West Bengal. On July 17, he resigned as West Bengal Governor after being named the National Democratic Alliance's vice presidential candidate.