Vice-Presidential Elections 2022: Jagdeep Dhankhar secures 73% votes, highest in last 25 years

Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday was elected as the 16th Vice-President of India. The Election Commission announced that Dhankhar, the NDA nominee, emerged victorious in the Vice Presidential election in which he was pitted against the Opposition`s candidate Margaret Alva.

Dhankhar secured 528 votes against Alva’s 182, making his victory margin the highest since 1997. The former West Bengal Governor secured 72.8 per cent of the total 725 valid votes cast. 

The record is held by KR Narayanan, who leads the list for having the highest victory margin by securing 700 of the 701 votes cast in 1992. Dhankhar’s performance in this election outshined M Vehkaiah’s Naidu’s 2017 performance by 2 percent.

Around 93 per cent polling was recorded in the vice presidential election on Saturday, with more than 50 MPs not exercising their franchise. Officials said of the total 780 MPs, as many as 725 MPs voted till 5 pm when the polling concluded.

The Trinamool Congress, which has 39 MPs, including 23 in Lok Sabha, has already announced its decision to abstain from the election. However, two of its MPs -- Sisir Kumar Adhikari and Dibyendu Adhikari -- broke ranks and cast their ballots.

71-year-old Dhankhar will take oath as the Vice President on August 11, a day after Naidu’s tenure ends. He will be the second vice president from Rajasthan after Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who held the office between 2002 and 2007.

Dhankhar has varied administrative experience and has been in public life for over three decades. He entered public life after getting elected as a Member of Parliament from Jhunjhunu in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections on a Janata Dal ticket. He also served as a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990. 

His politics was initially influenced by former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.Dhankhar later shifted focus to state politics and was elected to the Rajasthan Assembly in 1993 from Kishangarh constituency in Ajmer district.

Appointed West Bengal Governor in 2019, he had differences with the Trinamool Congress government on several issues. He resigned as West Bengal Governor on July 17 before filing his nomination as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).