New Vice President: Shashi Tharoor in line....?

New Delhi: The selection process for the successor of Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resigned as Vice President in an unexpected and unusual move, has started. The BJP-led NDA government has started discussions to fill the post during the monsoon session of Parliament itself. It is learnt that Shashi Tharoor MP, who is having a row with his party in Kerala, Congress, is considered as a candidate for the high post, along with former Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, and former Goa Governor P S. Sreedharan Pillai. The Vice President will be elected by the MPs of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha by voting.

Dhankhar, who took office as Vice President on August 6, 2022, resigned with two years left in his tenure. Dhankar, who presided over the first half of the first day of the Monsoon Session in Rajya Sabha, had made an important intervention in the Opposition-sponsored impeachment motion of High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, but didn’t appear for the post-lunch session of the day.

If President Draupadi Murmu accepts Dhankhar's resignation, the Rajya Sabha will have to complete the Monsoon Session under the chairmanship of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan.

In his resignation letter to President Droupadi Murmu, he said he was stepping down with immediate effect.

“To prioritise health care and abide by medical advice, I hereby resign as the Vice President of India, effective immediately, in accordance with Article 67(a) of the Constitution,” Dhankar wrote in his resignation letter to the President, which was shared on his official X account.

He wrote, “I extend my deepest gratitude to Your Excellency- the Hon’ble President of India for her unwavering support and the soothing wonderful working relationship we maintained during my tenure. I express my deepest gratituted to the Hon’nle Prime Minister and the esteemed Council of Ministers.”