NEW DELHI: Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday took oath as the 14th Vice President of India. Dhankar’s who was the former West Bengal Governor and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate, oath was administered by the India’s newly President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former President Ram Nath Kovind, former vice president Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and several other leaders were also present at the oath ceremony.
Ahead of his swearing-in, Dhankhar visited Raj Ghat in Delhi and paid his respects to ‘Pujya Bapu’ Mahatma Gandhi.
Delhi | President Droupadi Murmu administers the oath of office to Vice President-elect Jagdeep Dhankhar
— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2022
Jagdeep Dhankhar becomes the 14th Vice President of India. pic.twitter.com/26m0SdZPXm
Jagdeep Dhankhar, who was the Governor of West Bengal since 2019, defeated Margaret Alva, the opposition candidate during the NDA candidate’s election, in the Vice Presidential election this month.
Jagdeep Dhankhar, born on May 18, 1951, in Kithana village of Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan district, did his early education (classes one to five) in a government school in the village itself. After that, he got a scholarship and joined Sainik School in Chittorgarh.
Dhankhar holds a BSc (Hons) degree from the prestigious Maharaja College, Jaipur. He has also studied Law (LLB) from Rajasthan University itself.
Dhankhar’s political career started from the year 1989. That year, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from Jhunjhunu on a Janata Dal ticket with the support of the BJP and won the Parliament for the first time. He has also been a minister at the Centre.
On 20 July 2019, the central government appointed Dhankhar as the governor of West Bengal. As governor, his confrontation with the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal made a lot of headlines.