Vice-President Submits Resignation

General Studies Paper-2

Context

• The Vice-President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar becomes the third Vice-President in India’s history to resign before completing his term, after V.V. Giri and R. Venkataraman in accordance with Article 67(a) of the Constitution of India.

Election of Vice-President of India

• The Vice-President of India is elected by the method of indirect election, with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting is by secret ballot (Article 66).
• Eligibility criteria:
  • He should be a citizen of India and have completed 35 years of age
  • He should be qualified for election as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
  • He should not hold any office of profit under the Union government.
• Electoral college:
  • It consists of both elected and nominated members of the Parliament.
  • It does not include the members of the state legislative assemblies.
  • The nomination of a candidate for election to the office of Vice-President must be subscribed by at least 20 electors as proposers and 20 electors as seconders.
  • All doubts and disputes in connection with the election of the Vice President are inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court, whose decision is final (Article 71).

Term of Office

• The Vice-President holds office for a term of five years and can resign at any time by addressing the resignation letter to the President.
• He is also eligible for reelection to that office.
• Constitutional Provisions for Removal: Under Article 67(b), the Vice President can be removed through a resolution passed by a majority in the Rajya Sabha and subsequently agreed upon by the Lok Sabha.
  • A 14-day notice is mandatory before such a resolution can be moved.
  • If the office falls vacant by resignation, removal, death or otherwise, then an election to fill the vacancy should be held as soon as possible after the occurrence of the vacancy.
• The newly elected vice-president remains in office for a full term of five years from the date he assumes charge of his office.

Functions of Vice-President

• He acts as the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha (Article 64). In this capacity, his powers and functions are similar to those of the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
• He acts as President when a vacancy occurs in the office of the President due to his resignation, impeachment, death or otherwise (Article 65).
• When the Vice-President acts as President, the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha takes over the Vice-President’s duties as Rajya Sabha Chairman.