The Vice President

The Vice President of India is the second-highest office in India, after the President. The Vice President is elected indirectly by an electoral college consisting members of both houses of the Parliament. The Vice President would ascend to the Presidency upon the death, resignation, impeachment, or other situations leading to the vacancy in the Office of President. The normal function of the Vice President is to serve as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.


Election of Vice President   
•    Elected by both the houses (Electoral College) in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote and the vote being secret. Nominated members also participate in his election
•    The Supreme court has the final and exclusive jurisdiction for resolving disputes and doubts relating to the election of the Vice President of India

Criteria for Vice President   
•    Citizen of India
•    More that 35 years of Age
•    Posses the qualification of membership of Rajya Sabha
•    Not hold any office of profit under union, state of local authority. However, for this purpose, the President, Vice-President, Governor of a State and a Minister of the Union or a State, are not held to be holding an office of profit

The Vice President of India
•    Holds office for 5 years. Can be re-elected
•    Term can be cut short if he resigns or by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by a majority of all the then members of the Rajya Sabha and agreed to by the Lok Sabha
•    He is the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha. Since he is not a member of Rajya Sabha, he has no right to vote
•    Being the Vice-President of India, he is not entitled for any salary, but he is entitled to the salary and allowances payable to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
•    All bills, resolution, motion can be taken in Rajya Sabha after his consent
•    Can discharge the function of the President, the Vice-President shall not perform the duties of the office of the Chairman of Rajya Sabha and shall not be entitled to receive the salary of the Chairman. During this period, he is entitled for the salary and privileges of the President of India.

S. No.	Vice - President	Took Office	Left Office
1	Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	13 May 1952	12 May 1962
2	Dr. Zakir Hussain	13 May 1962	13 May 1967
3	Sh. Varahagiri Venkata Giri	13 May 1967	3 May 1969
4	Gopal Swarup Pathak	1 September 1969	1 September 1974
5	Basappa Danappa Jatti	1 September 1974	25 July 1977
6	Justice Muhammad Hidayatullah	25 August 1977	25 July 1982
7	Ramaswamy Venkataraman	25 August 1982	25 July 1987
8	Shankar Dayal Sharma	3 September 1987	24 July 1992
9	Kocheril Raman Narayanan	21 August 1992	24 July 1997
10	Krishan Kant	21 August 1997	27 July 2002
11	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat	19 August 2002	21 July 2007
12	Mohammad Hamid Ansari	11 August 2007	Incumbent