M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday took oath as the 13th Vice President of India. A glittering ceremony was held at Rashtrapati Bhawan this morning. The former Union Minister, whose candidature was backed by BJP-led NDA, won the election on August 5 after bagging an overwhelming two-third votes against opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi. The 68-year-old BJP leader from Andhra Pradesh had received 516 votes out of the total 771 votes cast while Gandhi could only manage 244 votes. Of the total 771 votes polled, 11 were found to be invalid.
Yesterday the term of the Hamid Ansari ended. Naidu is the 13th person to hold the second highest constitutional post, according to PTI report. By virtue of being the vice president, Naidu will also preside over the Rajya Sabha as the Chairman. Following the oath taking of Naidu, persons holding the three top positions in the country –the President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister — are now from the BJP.
Naidu will be the second BJP leader to become vice- president after Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (2002-2007). A two-term BJP president, Naidu was also elected to the Rajya Sabha three times from Karnataka. He represented Rajasthan in the Upper House of Parliament before he was nominated to the vice presidents post by the NDA. PTI
