NDA nominee and former Union Minister Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (68) will be the 13th Vice- President of India as he defeated Opposition nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi by a huge margin of 272 votes on Saturday. Naidu secured 516 votes (68 per cent) against Gandhi’s 244 votes (32 per cent).
He will be sworn in on August 11, a day after the term of the incumbent Hamid Ansari ends. Naidu will be the second BJP leader to become Vice-President after Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (2002-2007). With this victory, those holding the three top positions in the country — the President, the Vice-President and the Prime Minister — come from the BJP. last month, Ram Nath Kovind became the first BJP leader to win presidential poll defeating Opposition’s Meira Kumar. By virtue of being the Vice-President, Naidu will also preside over the Rajya Sabha as its Chairman.
Out of 785 members from the lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha eligible to vote, 771 parliamentarians cast their votes in the elections making up for a total poll percentage of 98.21 per cent. While 11 votes were declared invalid, the identities remain untraced due to the secret ballots as many as 14 MPs were absent.
Of the absentees, two were from the BJP, two from the INC, two from the IUMl, four from the TMC, one from the NCP, one from the PMK and two Independents.
In the 2012 polls, Ansari as the UPA candidate had bagged 490 votes against NDA nominee Jaswant Singh’s 238 votes. In the 2007 polls, Ansari had polled 456 votes while NDA’s Najma Heptullah bagged 222 votes and Rashid Masood 75 votes. Naidu crossed the 500 vote-mark riding on the brute majority of the BJP-led NDA in the lok Sabha.
Announcing the result, the Secretary General of Rajya Sabha and Returning Officer Shamsher K Sheriff said as M Venkaiah Naidu secured greater than the requisite quota of votes, I declare him as duly elected to the office of the Vice-President of India. A total of 381 votes was the quota set to win the polls.
Incidentally, both the ruling and Opposition camps claimed to have received more than their combined numerical strengths indicating at cross-voting, just as in the recent Presidential polls.
Soon after the result was announced, Naidu said he as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha would steer the functioning of the House “without fear or favour” and uphold its dignity and decorum with the cooperation of all members by acting in accordance with the rules and conventions of the House. He said, “Coming from an agricultural background, I never imagined I would be here. Agriculture has no proper voice in Indian polity. I am very humbled. I am also thankful to the Prime Minister and all party leaders for their support.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Naidu expressing confidence that the former Union Minister will remain committed to the goal of nation building. In a series of tweets, the PM recalled his memories of working with Naidu in the BJP and at the Centre, adding that he will cherish this aspect of their association. Congress president Sonia Gandhi also extended her best wishes to Naidu. “The position of the Vice-President of India has the crucial challenge of assuming a non-partisan role in running ‘The House of Elders’, which acts as a store house of wisdom and sage advice for the Government,” she said.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi congratulated Naidu on his victory and at the same time said that the votes he secured were an affirmation of “the right to free thought and speech”.
PM Modi and Naidu, as well as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a lok Sabha member, were among the first to cast their ballot. In fact, the PM was standing in queue even before the voting hall opened at 10 am.
The BJD and the JD(U), which had supported the NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind for the post of President, had backed Gandhi. But the JD(U) which had since come out of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and joined hands with the BJP, whether its MPs threw their weight behind Naidu was one of the speculations.
Those who did not vote in the Vice-President elections include two BJP MPs -- Vijay Goel and Sanwarlal Jat while 12 Opposition MPs, including Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, Kunal Kumar Ghosh and Tapas Pal (he is in jail).
Others who didn’t vote include Anu Agha and Naba Kumar Saraniya (both Independents), Abdul Wahab and PK Kunhallikutty from the IUMl; Mausam Noor and Ranee Narah (both Congress) Udayan Raje Bhonsle from the NCP; Ambumani Ramadoss from the PMK didn’t cast his vote. BJP member in the lok Sabha Chhedi Paswan is barred from casting vote following a judicial pronouncement.