NDA candidate Venkaiah Naidu wins vice presidential election with 516 votes

NEW DELHI: BJP-led NDA candidate Venkaiah Naidu comfortably won the election for the post of vice president on Saturday with 516 votes.

Naidu's opponent, the Congress-backed Gopalkrishna Gandhi, got 244 votes.

Of 771 votes polled, 760 were considered valid, and 381 were needed to win. The poll percentage recorded was 98.21%, with 771 of 785 members of Parliament casting their votes.

Naidu will be the 15th vice president of India. He will take the oath of office on August 11. The term of incumbent vice president Hamid Ansari, who held the position for two consecutive terms, ends on August 10.

Naidu will be vice president to Ram Nath Kovind's President. Kovind, like Naidu, was also the NDA's candidate.

By virtue of being vice president, Naidu also becomes ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha. His position's term is set at five years and he can technically be re-elected as vice president any number of times.

"I think we will miss Venkaiah Naidu in one place, but you will see more in action in another place," said Goa's BJP chief minister Manohar Parrikar about the former BJP Union minister.

Naidu served as Union minister for urban development in the Modi Cabinet. He has also served as the BJP national president from 2002 to 2004. Earlier, Naidu was the Cabinet Minister for rural Development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee NDA government.