Vice President of India: Role, Powers, Provisions

In this article, we will discuss the Vice President of India in a simple and easy way and understand all the main aspects related to it; So read this article till the end to understand well and also read other related articles as well.

We have discussed the President of India in great detail earlier. For a good understanding of the Vice President of India, it is necessary that you have a good understanding of the President.

Basics of President of India	Click Here
Presidential Election in India	Click Here
Pardoning Power of the President	Click Here
President’s veto power	Click Here
President’s Ordinance Power	Click Here

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Understanding the Vice President of India

Talking about the Vice President of India, he does not have much to do as a Vice President. The relevance of the Vice President comes to the fore only when the President is not in office for some reason. That is why the Vice-President is called ” His Superfluous Highness “.

If we look in this way, the Constitution has not assigned any special functions to the Vice-President according to his capacity, but this does not mean that he is not needed at all. It was only then that this post was created.

The biggest need is in its sense that it helps in maintaining political continuity . how that? Will understand it further.

The Vice-Presidential system in India is based on the Vice-Presidential system of America, but still it is different from the American Vice-Presidential system in the sense that if the post of President in America is vacant, then the Vice-President will be replaced by his former President. Remains in that post for the remainder of the term.

On the other hand, the Vice-President of India, when the office of the President becomes vacant, does not continue in that office for the remainder of the term of the former President but serves as an Acting President until the new President assumes office. As soon as the new President arrives, the Vice-President returns to his office again. This is what is written in Article 65 . This will give you an idea of how the Vice-President maintains consistency.

Article 65 – Vice-President to act as President during casual vacancy in the office of President or in his absence

(1) In the event of a vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation or removal from office or otherwise, the Vice-President shall act as President until the date on which the new President enters upon his office.

(2) When the President is unable to discharge his functions due to absence, illness or any other cause, the Vice-President shall discharge his functions until the date on which the President resumes his duties.

(3) When the Vice President acts as the President, he gets all the powers and immunities of the President. Along with this, he will get all such facilities as may be decided by the Parliament.

Article 63 states that India will have a Vice-President, but obviously, as we have read above, the Vice-President does not have much to do. Yes, but there is an Article 64 which gives the Vice-President an opportunity to do some sort of work.

In fact , Article 64 states that the Vice-President shall be the ex- officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. That is, the Vice-President presides over the Rajya Sabha and the truth is that this is its main function, it is here that the Vice-President gets equal opportunity to do some creative work.

Because while being in the office of the Vice President, the doors are opened to do some kind of work only when the office of the President is vacant due to any reason. Even if the post of Vice-President was created, it has been done for this day.

Article 66 – Election of the Vice President of India

Article 66 deals with the election of the Vice President of India and makes the following provisions;

(1) The Vice-President shall be elected by the members of the electoral college consisting of the members of both the Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

(Voting in the election will be secret i.e. who is voting for whom will not be seen)

(2) The Vice-President shall not be a member of either House of Parliament or of any State Legislature, but if a member of the House is elected as the Vice-President, his membership of the House shall be forfeited.

Overall, the system of the Vice Presidential election is similar to that of the Presidential election, only some of its provisions are different. What is?

– In the electoral college for the President, where only the elected members can participate in the election process, While the elected and non-elected i.e. nominated members also participate in the electoral college for the Vice-President.

But remember that only the members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha participate in this election and not the State Legislative Assembly . Whereas the members of the State Legislative Assembly are also involved in the election of the President.

After the remaining Vice-President’s election process, it is also in the same way as that of the President, the only difference is that in this , the vote value of each member of Parliament is counted.

Whereas in the presidential election we saw that the vote value of the members of the state legislature is also counted. If you do not understand the presidential election process, then you must read it by clicking here ^.

Qualifications

According to Article 66, for the election of the Vice-President, a person must fulfill the following qualifications;

1. He should be a citizen of India,

2. He should have completed 35 years of age,

3. He is qualified to be a member of Rajya Sabha

4. He is a member of any authority under the Central Government or a State Government or a local authority or any other public authority. Do not hold office of profit.

Keep one thing in mind here that the office of the President, the Governor of a State and the Minister of the Union or the State are not considered to be an office of profit, so such a person is considered eligible to be elected as the Vice-President.

In addition, for the nomination of the Vice-President, a candidate must have at least 20 proposers and 20 seconders. Each candidate is required to deposit Rs 15000 as security deposit in the Reserve Bank of India. Apart from this, there are some other conditions which apply to the Vice-President.

Article 69 – Oath or affirmation

The Vice President of India before assuming his office under Article 69

or makes an oath or affirmation and signs it before any person appointed by him. The Vice-President in his oath swears that-

I take such an oath to God that I will have true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India established by law and will faithfully discharge the duties of the office I am about to assume.

Article 67 – Term of office of the Vice-President of India

Under Article 67 , the term of office of the Vice President of India is 5 years from the time he enters upon his office, but-

(a) He may at any time during his term of office submit his resignation to the President.

(b) He can be removed from his office even before the completion of the term of office. Formal impeachment is not required to remove him. He can be removed by absolute majority by passing a resolution by the Rajya Sabha . That is, the majority of the total members of the house. And for this the consent of the Lok Sabha is also necessary.

It may be noted that no such motion can be moved unless 14 days advance notice has been given.

He is also eligible for re-election to that post. How many times can he get elected to this post?

Article 71 – Vice President of India and election dispute

Article 71 deals with the election disputes of both the President and the Vice-President. under which the following provision is made;

(1) All doubts and disputes related to the election of the Vice-President are investigated and decided by the Supreme Court. Whose decision will be final.

(2) If the election of a person to the office of Vice-President is declared invalid by the Supreme Court, the acts done by him before this declaration by the Supreme Court shall not be declared invalid—that is, they shall remain in effect.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, Parliament may by law regulate any matter relating to the election of the Vice-President.

(4) The election of the Vice-President cannot be challenged on the ground of incompleteness of the electoral college, that is, when the office of a member in the electoral college is vacant.

The functions of the Vice -President are dual.

1. He acts as the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. In this context, his powers and functions are similar to those of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The Vice President of America is also the chairman of the Senate (which is the upper house of America).

2. When the office of the President becomes vacant due to his resignation, expulsion, death and other reasons, he also acts as the acting President. He can serve as the acting President for a maximum period of six months. The election of a new President is necessary during this period.

Apart from this, if the present President is unable to perform his functions due to absence, illness or any other reason, he performs his duties till the President resumes his office.

The Vice President does not act as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha while acting as the Acting President. During this period his functions are performed by the Deputy Chairman.

List of Vice Presidents

Vice President	joining	discharge	then president
1. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	13 May 1952	12 May 1962	Rajendra Prasad
2. Zakir Hussain	13 May 1962	12 May 1967	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
3. V V Giri	13 May 1967	20 July 1969	Zakir Hussain
4. Gopal Swaroop Pathak	31 August 1969	30 August 1974	V V Giri, Fakruddin Ali Ahmed
5. B D Jatti	31 August 1974	30 August 1979	Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy
6. Mohammad Hayatullah	31 August 1979	30 August 1984	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Giani Zail Singh
7. Ramaswamy Venkataraman	31 August 1984	24 July 1987	Giani Zail Singh
8. Shankar Dayal Sharma	7 September 1987	24 July 1992	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
9. KR Narayan	21 August 1992	24 July 1997	Shankar Dayal Sharma
10. Krishna Kant	21 August 1997	27 July 2002	KR Narayanan, APJ Abdul Kalam
11. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat	19 August 2002	21 July 2007	A P J Abdul Kalam
12. Mohammad Hameed Ansari	11 August 2007	10 August 2017	Pratibha Patil, Pranab Mukherjee, Ram Nath Kovind
13. Venkaiah Naidu	11 August 2017	11 August 2022	Ram Nath Kovind
14. Jagdeep Dhankhar	11 august 2022	Incumbent	Droupadi Murmu

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Basics of President of India	Click Here
Presidential Election in India	Click Here
Pardoning Power of the President	Click Here
President’s veto power	Click Here
President’s Ordinance Power	Click Here