Venkaiah Naidu wins V-P polls by 272 votes, defeats Gopalkrishna Gandhi

New Delhi: Backed by two-third members of Parliament, senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday defeated the Opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi. He will be sworn in as the country’s 13th Vice-President on August 11. Hamid Ansari’s term as V-P ends on August 10.

Mr Naidu bagged 516 votes, while Mr Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, secured 244. Nearly two-dozen MPs of Opposition parties, sources said, defied party whip and voted for the NDA’s vice-presidential candidate. 

Mr Naidu bagged 21 more votes than the ones pledged to him (around 495). Of the total 785 MPs eligible to vote, 14 could not vote for various reasons.

The BJP claimed that 20 MPs cross-voted in favour of Mr Naidu, and called it the “largest victory margin in last 33 years.” 

Accepting defeat, the Opposition’s V-P candidate said, “Congratulate Venkaiah Naidu Garu on his victory. Wish him all the best for his new office. Thank those who voted for me; was expecting handsome performance by united vote of Opposition parties and I’m more than satisfied.”

Mr Gandhi also said that the votes he secured were an affirmation of “the right to free thought and speech and the duty to serve pluralism and secularism.” 

Mr Naidu is the second BJP leader to become Vice-President, after late Bhairon Singh Shekh-awat.

With Mr Naidu, “a farmer’ son,” winning the election, he is the third BJP leader, along with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to hold the three top constitutional positions in the country. The Vice-President of the country is also the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha. 

With Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan also from the BJP, the saffron party now has an effective control of both Houses. 

Mr Naidu’s candidature for the post of V-P is seen as part of the BJP’s strategy to send a positive message to the South where the party is trying to expand its base. Assembly elections are scheduled in Karnataka next year. 

Ushapati and Uparashtrapati

98.21% of MPs voted. 771 out of 785 MPs cast their vote.

Venkaiah got 516 votes. Gopalkrishna got 244 votes. 11 votes were invalid.

Ram Nath Kovind won Presidential election by 65% votes. He had polled 2,930 votes with a value of 7,02,044. 522 MPs had voted for Kovind.

In 2012, Ansari had bagged 490 votes. NDA nominee Jaswant Singh had got 238 votes.