Venkaiah Naidu wins Vice President poll, to take oath on August 11

M Venkaiah Naidu, the governing National Democratic Alliance’s candidate, was elected the Vice President of India by a margin of 272 votes. Naidu got 516 of the 760 valid votes of MPs who voted on Saturday.

He defeated Opposition candidate and former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C Rajagopalachari, who got 244 votes. Naidu will take the oath of office on August 11 as incumbent Vice President Hamid Ansari’s term ends on August 10. Ansari was Vice President for two terms. He joins Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Krishan Kant, Mohammad Hidayatullah, B D Jatti and G S Pathak as Vice Presidents who did not make it to President.

However to give Ansari his due, the only other two-term Vice President apart from him was Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, India’s second President.