The Vice-President

Detail

1. The office (Arts. 63-65)

• Vice-President of India (Art. 63): the Constitution says, "There shall be a Vice-President of India." It is the second-highest office in the country, after the President.
• Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Art. 64): the Vice-President is the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Ex officio means "because of the post held". Nobody elects the Vice-President to this chair separately.
• The Vice-President is paid as Chairman, not as Vice-President. The office itself has no separate salary.

• The Vice-President is not a member of the Rajya Sabha. So the Vice-President presides over the House but is not one of its members.

• Acting President (Art. 65): when the President's office falls vacant (because of death, resignation or removal), the Vice-President acts as President.

• This lasts only until a new President takes office.
• A new President must be elected within six months of the vacancy.
• If the President is absent or ill, the Vice-President also carries out the President's functions until the President returns to duty.

• While the Vice-President acts as President, the Vice-President does not act as Rajya Sabha Chairman. The Deputy Chairman presides over the House instead.

• Part of the Union Executive: the Vice-President is part of the Union Executive, together with the President, the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. The Vice-President's main everyday work is chairing the Rajya Sabha (NCERT Class 8).

2. Election of the Vice-President (Art. 66)

• Electoral college: the group of people who elect someone. For the Vice-President, it is made up of all members of both Houses of Parliament, elected and nominated.
• The 11th Amendment, 1961 brought in this electoral college. Before that, members of both Houses voted in a joint meeting.

• State legislators (MLAs) take no part. According to NCERT (keps204), this is the "only difference" from the President's election, where elected MLAs also vote.

• Method of voting:

• Proportional representation by single transferable vote: each voter ranks the candidates 1, 2, 3 and so on. A candidate must reach a fixed winning number of votes (the quota). If nobody reaches it, the weakest candidate is removed and that candidate's votes go to each voter's next choice.
• Secret ballot: nobody can see how a member voted.
• Every vote has equal value. This is unlike the President's election, where each vote carries a different weight.

Feature	President (Art. 54-55)	Vice-President (Art. 66)
Who votes	Elected MPs + elected MLAs of states, Delhi and Puducherry	All MPs, elected and nominated
Nominated MPs	Do not vote	Vote
Value of each vote	Weighted (depends on population)	Equal
Method	PR by single transferable vote, secret ballot	Same

• Qualifications (Art. 66(3)-(4)): a candidate must be:
• a citizen of India;
• at least 35 years old;
• qualified to be elected to the Rajya Sabha;

• not holding any office of profit (a paid post under the Union, a state or a local authority controlled by them).

• Nomination: a candidate needs 20 proposers, 20 seconders and a security deposit of ₹15,000. These rules come from the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952.

• Term (Art. 67): five years from the day the Vice-President enters office. The Vice-President can resign early by writing to the President (Art. 67(a)). After the term ends, the Vice-President stays in office until a successor takes over [5].
• Filling a vacancy (Art. 68): a vacancy must be filled as soon as possible. The new Vice-President gets a full new five-year term, not just the rest of the old one.
• Oath (Art. 69): taken before the President, or before a person the President appoints.
• Disputes (Art. 71): any doubt or dispute about the election is decided only by the Supreme Court.

3. Removal of the Vice-President (Art. 67(b))

• Steps, in order: 1. A member must give at least 14 days' notice that a resolution will be moved [5]. 2. The Rajya Sabha passes the resolution by a majority of all its then members. This is an effective majority: more than half of the House's actual strength at that time, leaving out vacant seats [5][6]. 3. The Lok Sabha must agree to the resolution [5].

• Key features:

• No grounds are listed in the Constitution.
• There is no impeachment-style trial. Impeachment is a special process with charges and an investigation, and it is used for the President.
• Only the Rajya Sabha can start the process.

• The Rajya Sabha's own procedure manual explains why: the Vice-President's main role is to chair the Rajya Sabha, so removal works much like removing the Lok Sabha Speaker. No two-thirds majority is needed [6].

• While the resolution is under consideration (Art. 92): the Vice-President cannot preside over the Rajya Sabha. The Vice-President still has the right to speak and take part in the proceedings [6].

• First-ever notice: in December 2024, opposition members gave a notice against Jagdeep Dhankhar. The Deputy Chairman rejected it.

Feature	President: impeachment (Art. 61)	Vice-President: removal (Art. 67(b))
Grounds	"Violation of the Constitution"	None stated
Where it starts	Either House	Rajya Sabha only
Notice	14 days	14 days
Majority needed	Two-thirds of total membership in each House	Effective majority in the RS, then Lok Sabha agreement
Trial or investigation	Yes, the other House investigates the charges	No

• Comparison with the USA: when the US President's office falls vacant, the US Vice-President becomes President for the rest of the term. India's Vice-President only acts as President until a new President is elected.

4. Acting Presidents and the 1969 Act

• V.V. Giri (1969): Giri was Vice-President when President Zakir Husain died in May 1969, and Giri became Acting President.
• Giri then resigned both posts to contest the presidential election.

• This left both offices vacant at the same time.

• President (Discharge of Functions) Act, 1969: Parliament passed this Act on 28 May 1969 [7].

• If both the President's and Vice-President's offices are vacant (because of death, resignation, removal or any other reason), the Chief Justice of India carries out the President's functions [7].
• If the Chief Justice is not available, the senior-most available Supreme Court judge does so [7].

• This arrangement lasts until a new President is elected, or until a new Vice-President begins to act as President, whichever is earlier [7].

• Justice M. Hidayatullah was Chief Justice of India from 10 January 1969 to 21 January 1971 [8]. Under the 1969 Act, he acted as President in 1969. He is the only Chief Justice who has done so.

• B.D. Jatti (1977): Jatti was Vice-President when President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed died in office in 1977, and Jatti acted as President (keps204).

5. The 2025 vacancy and election

• Resignation: Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned on 21 July 2025, citing health. He used Art. 67(a) (resignation in writing to the President).
• Election: the election was held on 9 September 2025.
• 781 electors could vote. 767 of them voted, and 15 ballot papers were declared invalid [2].

• C.P. Radhakrishnan (NDA) defeated B. Sudershan Reddy, a former Supreme Court judge and the INDIA bloc's candidate, by 452 votes to 300 [2].

• Oath: President Droupadi Murmu gave the oath to Radhakrishnan on 12 September 2025 at Ganatantra Mandap, Rashtrapati Bhavan. This followed Art. 69 [3].

• Radhakrishnan became the 15th Vice-President of India and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha [4].
• The vacancy was filled within about seven weeks. This shows the Art. 68 rule that a vacancy must be filled "as soon as possible". Radhakrishnan's new full five-year term began in September 2025.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 64: the Vice-President is ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and is paid as Chairman, not as Vice-President.
• 11th Amendment, 1961: replaced the joint meeting of both Houses with an electoral college for the Vice-President's election.
• Trap: nominated MPs vote in the Vice-President's election but not in the President's election. MLAs vote in neither Vice-Presidential election.
• Art. 67(b): a removal resolution can start only in the Rajya Sabha. It needs an effective majority there and the Lok Sabha's agreement, after 14 days' notice. No grounds are stated.
• Art. 92: while a removal resolution is under consideration, the Chairman cannot preside but may speak.
• President (Discharge of Functions) Act, 1969: if both offices are vacant, the Chief Justice acts as President, or else the senior-most available Supreme Court judge. Justice M. Hidayatullah did so in 1969.
• Acting Presidents: V.V. Giri (1969, after Zakir Husain's death) and B.D. Jatti (1977, after Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed's death).
• Art. 71: disputes about the Vice-President's election go only to the Supreme Court.
• 2025: C.P. Radhakrishnan became the 15th Vice-President. He won by 452 votes to 300 on 9 September and took the oath on 12 September 2025.

Mains Points

• Removal is easy, and there is no due process. No grounds are stated, there is no trial, and an effective majority in the Rajya Sabha plus Lok Sabha agreement is enough. A ruling side with majorities in both Houses could remove a Vice-President who presides fairly. This is unlike the strict impeachment process for the President (Art. 61). The December 2024 notice against Jagdeep Dhankhar shows that the Chair's neutrality is now a matter of political conflict.
• Two roles that do not fit easily together. The Vice-President is a constitutional figure above party politics, but also presides over a House where the ruling side may lack a majority. Rulings from the Chair (on adjournments, money bills or debates) can make the office look partisan. One possible reform is to make conventions on Chair neutrality binding, similar to the conventions for the Speaker.
• Acting President, not successor. India's Vice-President does not take over the President's full term, unlike in the USA. This keeps the President's office tied to a fresh election by an electoral college that includes the states. The cost is a possible six-month gap and, in 1969, a vacancy in both offices at once. The 1969 Act now handles that case by having the Chief Justice act.
• Early vacancies get a full new term (Art. 68). The 2025 election shows that a mid-term resignation gives a full new five-year term. As a result, the Vice-President's term need not match the Lok Sabha's or the President's timetable.