National Democratic Alliance candidate M. Venkaiah Naidu will be the 15th Vice President of India, voting for which was held on Saturday. Naidu defeated Opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the election, which saw 98.21% voting, with 771 out of 785 members of the electoral college casting their votes. However, there were only 760 valid votes—Naidu got 516 votes, while Gandhi 244.
Two-time Vice President Hamid Ansari’s term is ending on 10 August and Naidu is likely to take oath the next day.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Cabinet colleagues and Opposition leaders, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, cast their votes. The voting, which began at 10 am, continued till 5 pm, Assistant Returning Officer Mukul Pandey said. Naidu voted around 10 am. He was accompanied by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar and other BJP leaders. Besides BJP veteran L.K. Advani, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya also cast their votes.