Jagdeep Dhankhar: All you need to know about India’s 14th Vice President

Former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is all set to take oath as the 14th Vice President of India today at 12:30 pm. Dhankhar received 528 votes and defeated the joint opposition candidate Margaret Alva who secured only 182 votes. 15 votes were declared invalid.  

The Electoral College in the elections to choose India’s vice president comprises 788 members of both Houses of the Parliament (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha). 

But who is Jagdeep Dhankar? 

Once a “reluctant politician”, Dhankhar’s rise in the political scene as West Bengal governor surprised political pundits just like his rise to the second highest constitutional post in India. 

As the governor of West Bengal, Dhankhar did not shy away from public disagreements with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) dispensation ruling the state. 

His legal career at the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court and a stint as the junior parliamentary affairs minister at the Centre is bound to be instrumental as he takes charge as the Rajya Sabha chairman. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2008 after a decade-long break from politics.

While announcing his candidature for the vice presidential polls 2022, the BJP described Dhankhar as “kisan putra” in a bid to reach out to the Jat community which participated in the farmers’ protests on Delhi-Haryana borders against the agricultural reforms announced in June 2020. 

In his long and illustrious public life, Dhankhar has championed causes of the Other Backward Classes like granting the OBC status to Rajasthan’s Jat community. 

Born on May 18, 1951, Dhankhar is a known to be a sports enthusiast and has been the President of the Rajasthan Olympic Association, and Rajasthan Tennis Association. He is married to Sudesh and they have a daughter together. 

(With PTI, India Today inputs)