Jagdeep Dhankhar (born 18 May 1951) is an Indian politician and lawyer, who is serving as the 14th and current

vice president of India The vice president of India ( IAST: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in th ...

, since 11 August 2022. Prior to serving in this position, he served as the

Governor of West Bengal The Governor of West Bengal is the nominal head of state of the Indian state of West Bengal and a representative of the President of India. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years. His official residence is the Ra ...

. He also held office as the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs under the Chandra Shekhar ministry in 1990. He is a member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

. He has also been a member of

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...

and

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

in the past.

Early life and education

Dhankhar the current vice president of india was born on 18 May 1951, in Kithana, a small village in the

Jhunjhunu district Jhunjhunu district is a district of the Indian state of Rajasthan in northern India. The city of Jhunjhunu is the district headquarters. District location The district falls within Shekhawati region, and is bounded on the northeast and east b ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

, India into a

Hindu Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subseq ...

family to parents Gokal Chand and Kesari Devi. He completed his school education from Sainik School, Chittorgarh and then graduated in

B.Sc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

and

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the

University of Rajasthan University of Rajasthan is a public and state university in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India and is one of the oldest universities in the state. It was set up on 8 January 1947 as the University of Rajputana and was given its current name in 1956. ...

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known as ...

. Dhankhar completed his primary and middle school education from Kithana Government School and Ghardhana Government School respectively. Dhankhar married

Sudesh Dhankhar Sudesh Dhankhar is an Indian doctor and the current Second Lady of India. She was previously the First Lady of West Bengal. Personal life She married Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice President of India The vice president of India ( IAST: ) is the ...

in 1979, and they have a daughter, Kamna.

Law career

Dhankhar enrolled with the Bar Council of Rajasthan as an Advocate in 1979. He was designated as

Senior Advocate The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel ( post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdicti ...

by the High Court of Judicature for

in 1990, and was the senior-most designated Senior Advocate of the state till taking the oath as Governor on 30 July 2019. Since 1990, Dhankhar had been practicing primarily in the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India (IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

. He has appeared in various High Courts of India. He is a former President of Rajasthan High Court Bar Association,

. Dhankhar had appeared in the

Sutlej River The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...

water dispute in 2016, he argued on behalf of the state of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

in the

Political career

He has been a member of

and

in past. He was a member of parliament of Janata Dal representing

Jhunjhunu Lok Sabha constituency Jhunjhunu Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 25 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Rajasthan state in western India. The current MP is Narendra Kumar of Bharatiya Janata Party Assembly segments Presently, Jhunjhunu Lok Sabha co ...

in Rajasthan during 1989–91 in the

9th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 9th Lok Sabha (2 December 1989 – 13 March 1991) elections in 22–26 November 1989. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. Twelve sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elec ...

. He joined Congress in 1991. He lost the

1991 Indian general election General elections were held in India on 20 May, 12 June and 15 June 1991 to elect the members of the 10th Lok Sabha, although they were delayed until 19 February 1992 in Punjab. No party could muster a majority in the Lok Sabha, resulting in t ...

from

Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 25 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Rajasthan state in India. Vidhan Sabha segments Presently, Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency comprises eight Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, ...

. He was elected as a

Member of Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

(MLA) from

Kishangarh Kishangarh is a city and a Municipal Council in Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. History Kishangarh State was founded by the Jodhpur prince Kishan Singh in 1609. Prior to the rule of Kishan Singh this area was ruled by Raj ...

, Rajasthan during 1993–98 in the 10th Legislative Assembly Rajasthan. He lost the

1998 Indian general election General elections were held in India on 16, 22 and 28 February 1998 to elect the members of the 12th Lok Sabha. The elections were held three years ahead of schedule after the government led by Inder Kumar Gujral collapsed when the Indian Nati ...

from

and came on third position. He joined the BJP in 2003. He was a member of 2008 assembly election campaign committee of BJP. In 2016, he headed the BJP's law and legal affairs department.

Governor of West Bengal (2019 - 2022)

On 20 July 2019,

Second Modi ministry The Second Ministry of Narendra Modi is the Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2019 general election which was held in seven phases in 2019. The results of the election were announc ...

through,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind (; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the second person after K. R. Narayanan, from the Dalit community ...

appointed him as

T. B. Radhakrishnan Thottathil Bhaskaran Nair Radhakrishnan (29 April 1959 – 3 April 2023) was an Indian judge. He was chief justice of the Calcutta High Court, Telangana High Court, Hyderabad High Court and Chhattisgarh High Court and judge of Kerala High Co ...

, Chief Justice of the

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located in B.B.D. Bagh, Kolkata, West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court ...

administered the Oath of Office to Jagdeep Dhankhar on 30 July 2019 at the

Raj Bhavan, Kolkata Raj Bhavan is the official residence of the governor of West Bengal, located in Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Built in 1803, it was known as Government House before Indian independence. After the transfer of power f ...

After becoming the governor of West Bengal, Dhankhar had frequent public confrontations with the state government and chief minister of the state

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal since 20 May 2011, the first woman to hold the office. Having served many times as a Un ...

throughout his tenure. Dhankhar had been a vocal critic of the Third Banerjee ministry, and frequently used Twitter and media to attack the West Bengal government over political issues. In response the ruling party in Bengal All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) referred Dhankhar as the 'real

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

'. In January 2022, CM Banerjee blocked Dhankhar on Twitter and accused him of mentioning her in his tweets daily and speaking in an unethical and abusive way. '' The Hindu'', newspaper in its editorial noted that it appeared on several occasions that "Dhankhar was playing a partisan role in State politics, in tandem with the BJP". On 13 July 2022, Dhankar met with

Chief Minister of West Bengal The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and ap ...

and

Chief Minister of Assam The chief minister of Assam, an Indian state, is the head of the Government of Assam. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following el ...

Himanta Biswa Sharma. Later on 15 July 2022, Dhankar visited Delhi and met Union Home Minister

Amit Shah Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Jana ...

there. He resigned as Governor on 17 July 2022, after being nominated as the vice-presidential candidate of the

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a centre-right to right-wing and conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the government of India ...

. Reacting to the nomination,

AITC AITC may refer to: * All India Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West B ...

Lok Sabha MP Sougata Roy, said that Dhankhar was "being rewarded for harassing the AITC".

Vice Presidency (2022–present)

2022 vice-presidential election

On 16 July 2022, the BJP nominated Dhankhar as the

's candidate for

Vice President of India The vice president of India ( IAST: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in th ...

for the 2022 election the following month. Dhankhar has been projected as a ''kisan putra'' (farmer's son) by the BJP. He contested against the United Opposition's candidate,

Margaret Alva Margaret Nazareth Alva ( born 14 April 1942) is an Indian politician. Alva served as the 17th Governor of Goa, 23rd Governor of Gujarat, 20th Governor of Rajasthan and 4th Governor of Uttarakhand the until the end of her tenure in August 2014. ...

, a former Union Minister and Governor from the

. On 18 July 2022, Dhankhar filed his nomination papers for the Vice-president elections. He was accompanied by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

and several other

union ministers The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...

and BJP politicians. The elections were conducted on 6 August, and the same evening counting of votes were carried out. Dhankhar emerged victorious by securing 528 votes out of the 725 MP votes from the lower and upper houses polled.

All India Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress ( English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cu ...

abstained from the election with only two members voting. Dhankhar won the 2022 election with 74.37% votes and recorded a highest poll-victory margin since the 1992 election.

Tenure

Dhankar assumed the office on 11 August 2022 succeeding

Venkaiah Naidu Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician who served as the 13th vice president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first Indian vice president born in independent India. He has also served as the minister of Housi ...

, with the oath administered by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

Droupadi Murmu Droupadi Murmu (, born 20 June 1958) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 15th president of India since 25 July 2022. She is the first person belonging to the tribal community and also the second woman after Pratibha Patil to hol ...

in the central banquet hall of the

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

Electoral performance

References

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dhankhar, Jagdeep 1951 births Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Rajasthan Indian Senior Counsel People from Jhunjhunu district Governors of West Bengal Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan India MPs 1989–1991 Living people Janata Dal politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Rajasthan Rajasthan MLAs 1993–1998