VICE PRESIDENTS OF INDIA

Venkaiah Naidu is the current Vice President of India. He defeated UPA's candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi on 5 August 2017 election.

Former Vice Presidents of India

 

VICE PRESIDENT OF INDIA

Ø  Articles 63 – 69 deals with VP of India.

Ø  The VP occupies the 2^nd highest office in the country.

Ø  VP is accorded a rank next to the president in the official warrant of precedence.

Ø  H.V.Kamath proposed the creation of office of VP in constituent assembly.

Article 63: The VP of India

Article 63 says there shall be office of VP.

Article 64: The VP to be Exofficio chairman of the council of states

According to article 64 the Vice-President shall be ex officio Chairman of the Council of States and shall not hold any other office of profit.

During any period when the Vice-president acts as President or discharges the functions of the President under article 65, he shall not perform the duties of the office of Chairman of the Council of States and shall not be entitled to any salary or allowance payable to the Chairman of the Council of States.

 The office of VP is modeled on the lines of the American VP.

Article65: The Vice-President to act as President or to discharge his functions during casual vacancies in the office, or during the absence, of President.

1)   In the event of the occurrence of any vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation or removal, or otherwise, the Vice-President shall act as President until the date on which a new President elected in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter to fill such vacancy enters upon his office.

      When two president died in office

2)   When the President is unable to discharge his functions owing to absence, illness or any other cause, the Vice-President shall discharge his functions until the date on which the President resumes his duties.

      The VP Sarvepalli Radhakrishna discharged the functions of president in june 1960 when Rajendra Prasad was on 15 days tour to USSR and again I 1961 when the president was ill and taking treatment in Germany.

3)   The Vice-President shall, during, and in respect of, the period while he is so acting as, or discharging the functions of, President, have all the powers and immunities of the President and be entitled to such emoluments, allowances and privileges as may be determined by Parliament by law and, until provision in that behalf is so made, such emoluments, allowances and privileges as are specified in the Second Schedule.

When VP is while discharging the function of President (acting) then he cannot preside over the council as chairman.

VP takes oath before CJI as acting president.

Article 66: Election of Vice President

1)   VP is elected by the Electoral College consisting of members of both houses of parliament only, including nominated members. Election in accordance with proportional representation by means of single transferable vote through secret ballot.

      The vote value of voter in Electoral College is one.

Number of votes = 545 LS = 245 RS = 790

      Up to 1962 VP elections are held by open ballot voting and through joint session and secret ballot system.

      In the original COI, parliament use to elect VP in joint session. In 1961 by 11^th constitutional amendment it was dispensed with separate elections.

      In 1957 and 1974 supreme court ruled that elections can be held for president and VP if there are vacancies in Electoral College.

2)   The Vice-President shall not be a member Parliament or Legislature of any State, and if a member of Parliament or Legislature of any State be elected as Vice-President, he shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in that House on the date on which he enters upon his office as Vice-President.

 Elections of VP are conducted by Election Commission.

 Parliament has the power to amend in the election manner of VP.

 VP elected according to the “Presidential and Vice Presidential Act 1952”.

3)   No person shall be eligible for election as Vice President unless he

a)   is a citizen of India;

b)   has completed the age of thirty-five years; and

c)   is qualified for election as a member of the Council of States.

      Qualification of VP is same as that of POI, but he should be qualified for elections as a member of RS in case of president he should be qualified as a member of LS.

      Qualification are based on 1997 amendment of Presidential and Vice Presidential Act 1952.

      One can be elected for any number of terms.

Conditions:

                                VP                     PRESIDENT

Support by         20 members               50 members

Seconded by      20 member’s              50 members

Deposit of          15,000                       15,000

      To get back the deposit the candidates has to secure 1/6^th of votes polled and valid.

      All doubts and disputes arising out of or inconnection with the election of a President or VicePresident shall be inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court whose decision shall be final. [71(1)]

Salary:

·         The salary of VP is fixed or determined by parliament.

·         Charged from consolidated fund of India.

·         It can be reduced at any time.

·         VP receives the salary as chairman of RS (Article 97), apart from all allowances.

·         Does not come under IT.

·         Salary – RS 1,25,000/-

·         The pension for the Vice-President is 50% of the salary.

 A person shall not be eligible for election as Vice President if he holds any office of profit.

Article 67: Term of office of Vice-President

The Vice-President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office:

a)   a Vice-President may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office;

      According to president and vice presidential ______ amendment act 1969, if office of president is vacant, the VP has to give his resignation to CJI addressing POI.

b)   a Vice-President may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Council of States passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People; but no resolution for the purpose of this clause shall be moved unless at least fourteen days' notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution;

c)   a Vice-President shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.

•  In the case of removal procedure of VP COI remains silent, no specific ground is mentioned in the constitution. But the ground is deemed to be violation of constitution.
• The motion relating to the removal of VP shall be initiated in RS, for this a notice of 14 days in advance signed by one fourth of the total members of that house. After that the RS has to approve the motion with simple majority or majority vote. After approval of motion in RS it is moved to LS, if the motion is approved with same (simple) majority VP stands removed, if not the motion gets defeated.
•  According to Article 91 any resolution for the removal of the Vice-President from his office is under consideration, the Chairman can not preside over the sitting.
• According to Article 92 the Chairman shall have the right to speak in, and take part in the proceedings of, the Council of States while any resolution for the removal of the Vice-President from his office is under consideration in the Council, shall not be entitled to vote at all on such resolution or on any other matter during such proceedings.
•   Both the houses of parliament has to approve the motion separately otherwise motion gets defeated.
•  It is not impeachment; it is a simple removable procedure.
• So far no VP is removed.
•   Krishna kanth is the only VP died in the office.

Article 68: Time of holding election to fill vacancy in the office of Vice President and the term of office of person elected to fill casual vacancy

1)   An election to fill a vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of Vice-President shall be completed before the expiration of the term.

2)   In case of vacancies occurred in the office of VP except on the ground of completion of tenure, new VP shall be elected as soon as possible. No time period is mentioned.

      No acting VP in case of vacancy and the office is kept vacant till new VP is elected. During that period, those duties are performed by the deputy chairman of RS.

      The newly elected person holds the office for the full term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office.

Article 69: Oath or affirmation by the Vice President.

Vice-President shall, before entering upon his office, make and subscribe an Oath before the President, or some person appointed in that behalf by him.

Powers and Functions of VP:

Ø  The VP to be Exofficio chairman of the council of states. He presides over RS and conducts the business of RS as speaker of LS.

Ø  He acts as POI in case of unexpected vacancies for the maximum of 6 months.

Ø  He was the chancellor to all central universities in India, and appoints vice chancellors to the central universities.

Ø  He acts as the chairman of Barath Ratna and Padma Awards committee.

LIST OF VICE-PRESIDENTS OF INDIA

No.	Vice-President	office	President
1	Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975)	1952 - 1962	Dr. Rajendra Prasad
2	Dr. Zakir Hussain (1897–1969)	1962 - 1967	Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
3	Sh. Varahagiri Venkata Giri (1894–1980)	1967 - 1969	Dr. Zakir Hussain
4	Gopal Swarup Pathak (1896–1982)	1969 - 1974	Sh. Varahagiri Venkata Giri
5	Basappa Danappa Jatti (1912–2002)	1974 - 1979	Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
6	Justice Muhammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992)	1979 - 1984	Shri Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
7	Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1910–2009)	1984 - 1987	Giani Zail Singh
8	Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999)	1987 - 1992	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
9	Kocheril Raman Narayanan (1920–2005)	1992 - 1997	Shankar Dayal Sharma
10[2]	Krishan Kant (1927–2002)	1997 - 2002	Kocheril Raman Narayanan
11	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (1923–2010)	2002 - 2007	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
12	Mohammad Hamid Ansari (1937– )	2007 -2017	Pratibha Patil Pranab Mukherjee
13	Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (1949–)	2017 -	Ram Nath Kovind

List of VP who become POI

1.   Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
2.   Dr. Zakir Hussain
3.   Sh. Varahagiri Venkata Giri
4.   Ramaswamy Venkataraman
5.   Shankar Dayal Sharma
6.   Kocheril Raman Narayanan

Ø  The Vice President of India is Mohammad Hamid Ansari, since 11 August 2007, and re-elected on 7 August 2012.

Ø  Mohammad Hamid Ansari 14^th  VP by post and 12^th by person.

7.   Hamid Ansari is the 2^nd  person to get elected for the post of Vice President of India at two consecutive terms, after Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Ø  First dalit VP  is Kocheril Raman Narayanan.

Ø  Krishna kanth is the only VP died in the office.

Ø  Bhairon Singh Shekhawat  was the 11^th VP lost in 2007 presidential elections.

Ø  2007 VP elections NDA candidate is Najma Heptullah and UNPA candidate is Rasheed Massod.

Ø  2007 VP elections NDA candidate is Jaswant Singh.

Ø  Dr.B.R.Ambedkar compared the post of VP with Prince of Wales.

Ø  Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Justice Muhammad Hidayatullah, Shankar Dayal Sharma were elected unopposedly