CP Radhakrishnan takes oath as 15th Vice-President of India today at the Rashtrapati Bhavan
CP Radhakrishnan takes oath as 15th Vice-President of India today at the Rashtrapati Bhavan
Digital Desk: India's 15th vice president, Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, took the oath as the new VP on Friday.
At 10:10 a.m., President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office in English at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
In addition to other dignitaries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former President Ram Nath Kovind, former Vice-Presidents Jagdeep Dhankhar and M Venkaiah Naidu, and Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and Nitin Gadkari attended the ceremony.
The 67-year-old veteran Tamil Nadu BJP leader Radhakrishnan, who has strong ties to the RSS, won the vice-presidential election with 452 votes, trailing with 300 votes his opponent, B. Sudershan Reddy, a former Supreme Court justice and nominee of the Opposition INDIA bloc.
Radhakrishnan started his political career with the Jana Sangh and has since held positions as a former chief of the BJP Tamil Nadu and a 2-time MP from Coimbatore.
Since the BJP-led NDA had a numerical advantage and easily passed the halfway point with the help of the YSR Congress Party and other smaller parties, the result was largely predictable.
Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation on July 21 due to health concerns set off the election. After winning, Radhakrishnan resigned as Maharashtra's governor, and President Murmu gave Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat the additional responsibility.
