The Vice- President of India
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THE VICE-PRESIDENTS OF INDIA
Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) ........................... 1952-1962
Dr Zakir Hussain (1897-1969) ................................................ 1962-1967
Varahagiri Venkata Giri (1894-1980) ..................................... 1967-1969
Gopal Swarup Pathak (1896-1982) ....................................... 1969-1974
B.D. Jatti (1912-2002) ............................................................... 1974-1979
Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905-1992) ................... 1979-1984
R. Venkataraman (1910-2009) ................................................ 1984-1987
Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918-1999) ................................ 1987-1992
K.R. Narayanan (1920-2005) .................................................. 1992-1997
Krishan Kant (1927-2002) ....................................................... 1997-2002
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (1923-2010) ................................. 2002-2007
Mohammed Hamid Ansari (b-1937) .................................... 2007-2017
M Venkaiah Naidu.................................................................2017-
The office of the Vice President of India
The Vice President is the 'ex-officio' Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. He or she is elected for a period of five years. There is no fixed retirement age for the Vice President and he or she can technically be re-elected as the Vice President for any number of times.
The election for the Vice President is conducted through a secret ballot. Members of the Electoral College, consisting of Members of the both Houses of Parliament including the nominated members of Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha vote in these elections. Members of Parliament are supposed to use special pens for marking their choice. Votes marked with any other pen are liable to be rejected. The ballot paper will contain the names of the contesting candidates, but does not contain any election symbol.
The election of the Vice President is slightly different from the election of the President as the members of state legislatures are not part of the electoral college for the vice-presidential election, which accounts for the reduced time in calculating votes. This allows the election result to be announced the same day. Therefore, from the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha combined, there are 790 voters in the electoral college this year.
A person is eligible for election as Vice-President if they: a) are a citizen of India; b) have completed the age of 35 years; c) are qualified for election as a member of the Council of States (Article 66). A person will not be eligible for election as Vice-President if they hold any office of profit under the Central or state government or under any local authority subject to the control of any of these governments. Once elected, the Vice President still isn't allowed to hold such an office.
A candidate needs 20 electors as proposers and at least another 20 electors as seconders for their nomination. The candidate also must make a security deposit of Rs 15,000.
In case of the death or impeachment or resignation of the President, the vice-president becomes the acting President as the office of the head of the nation cannot be kept vacant, and stays on the post for a maximum period of six months to perform all the functions of the President.
The Vice President can be terminated before the completion of fixed five-year term, either by resignation or by removal by the President. There is no formal process of impeachment for the removal of the Vice President, and removal proceedings can be initiated when members of the Rajya Sabha vote against the Vice President in an effective majority and members of Lok Sabha agree to this decision in a simple majority. A total of 14 days advance notice must be given prior to the initiation of removal proceedings of the Vice President. In such cases, when a temporary vacancy in the office of the Vice President is created, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha takes over the role of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
The Vice President receives the salary of the Chairman of the Council of States, which presently amounts to Rs 1,25,000 per month. Unlike the President, the Vice President is not allotted any special residential privileges while in office. While the President of India stays in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Vice President is not granted any such benefits during their tenure. [He gets to live in a Ministerial bungalow, though.]
M Venkaiah Naidu
Naidu was the BJP-led NDA's candidate. He served as the Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Urban Development and Information and Broadcasting in the Modi Cabinet. He has also served as the BJP national president from 2002 to 2004. Earlier, Naidu was the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural Development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee NDA government.
See also
The Vice- President of India
