Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI, AUG 7: National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was elected as the 14th Vice-President of India on Saturday, sweeping away the vote bank and defeating joint opposition candidate Margaret Alva.

Jagdeep Dhankhar received 528 votes while Margaret Alva got 182 votes.

With securing 72.8% votes against his rival, Dhankhar’s victory clearly signals the continued supremacy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP now holds all the key positions from President, V-P to Lok Sabha Speaker.

Jagdeep Dhankhar’s victory margin by securing 72.8% of the 725 valid votes cast during the V-P polls is the highest margin in the last six vice-presidential polls since 1997, TOI reported.

While KR Narayanan still leads the list for having the highest victory margin by securing 700 of the 701 votes cast in 1992, Dhankhar’s performance in the latest polls outshined Naidu’s 2017 performance by 2%.

The 71-year-old Jagdeep Dhankar is the first BJP nominee for the V-P post to not have started his political journey in the Sangh Parivar.

Congress’ Mohammad Hamid Ansari won 60.51% votes of the total 762 valid votes in the 2007 Vice-President Election. He remained V-P from 2007 to 2017.

In the 2017 V-P polls, Venkaiah Naidu won with 67.89% votes of the total 760 valid votes.

Key facts about new V-P Jagdeep Dhankhar

1. Jagdeep Dhankhar is the second Vice-President from Rajasthan after Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

2. Being born in an agrarian household in a remote village in Rajasthan, Jagdeep Dhankhar became one of the leading lawyers in Rajasthan and practiced in both the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court. He also headed the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association.

3. He entered politics in 1989 and was elected to Lok Sabha from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu the same year. He served as a minister of state for Parliamentary Affairs in the Janata Dal government led by Chandra Shekhar.

4. Jagdeep Dhankar went on to become the Governor of West Bengal in 2019.

5. He has championed issues related to Other Backward Classes (OBC), including the grant of OBC status to the Jat community in Rajasthan.

6. After finishing his schooling at Sainik School, Chittorgarh, Jagdeep Dhankhar did graduation in Physics and then pursued an LLB from the University of Rajasthan.

7. Jagdeep joined BJP in 2003. Also, he had fought many legal cases against RSS leaders in his career, according to a media outlet. One such case was against RSS leader Indresh Kumar.

-The India Today