Jagdeep Dhankar, former West Bengal Governor and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate took oath as the fourteenth vice president of India, and was administered oath by President Droupadi Murmu, who, last month, became the country's fifteenth and second female President.
Dhankhar was elected as the country's 14th Vice President in a victory that was a foregone conclusion as he defeated the Opposition's candidate Margaret Alva by a huge margin.
M Venkaiah Naidu's term as Vice President ended on August 10, 2022. The Vice President is also the chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Dhankhar, a former governor of West Bengal who will also preside over the Rajya Sabha which has been witnessing opposition protests over a range of issues, secured 528 votes against Alva's 182. His victory margin was the highest since 1997. The members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha form the electoral college for the vice presidential elections.
Dhankhar will be the second vice president from Rajasthan after Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who held the office between 2002 and 2007.
Dhankhar, who had been associated with the Janata Dal and the Congress, joined the BJP only in 2008 after a hiatus of nearly a decade when he concentrated on his legal career.
He has championed issues related to Other Backward Classes, including the grant of OBC status to the Jat community in Rajasthan. The BJP described Dhankhar as "kisan putra" while announcing his candidature for the vice presidential election, a move seen in the political circles aimed at reaching out to the politically significant Jat community which had participated in huge numbers in the year-long farmers' protests on the borders of the national capital against agriculture reform measures unveiled in June 2020.