Former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday sworn in as the 14th Vice President of India.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to Dhankhar (71) in a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Dhankhar took the oath in Hindi in the name of god.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dhankhar's predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu were among the dignitaries present at the ceremony.
Dhankar was elected as the vice president by securing 74.36 per cent of the vote against opposition candidate Margaret Alva on August 6. He has the highest winning margin in the last six vice presidential elections held since 1997.
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Dhankhar polled 528 votes whereas Alva got 182 votes. Alva was propped by 17 Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party, and the Left Parties.
Dhankhar's name as the NDA's Vice Presidential candidate was announced on July 16 by BJP chief JP Nadda.
Speaking about Dhankhar, Nadda called him a "people's governor" and "fully-equipped with administrative capacity."
Dhankhar has been in the limelight since becoming Governor of West Bengal in July 2019 over frequent run-ins with the Mamata Banerjee government.
(This is a developing story. Further details awaited.)
