Jagdeep Dhankhar is India’s next vice president, as the Lok Sabha general secretary on Saturday evening declared him as the winner in the elections to the post held earlier in the day.

Of the electoral college of 780 MPs, 725 cast their votes in the polling that started on Saturday morning and concluded at 5 pm.

The former West Bengal governor, who had been nominated by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) got 346 of the votes. Opposition candidate and former Union minister Margaret Alva received 182 votes, Lok Sabha General Secretary Utpal K Singh said. Fifteen votes were termed invalid, he added.

With support from regional parties like the Janata Dal (United), YSRCP, BSP, AIADMK and Shiv Sena, Dhankhar from the very start was up for an easy win. Even as Alva got the backing of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), she failed to garner the support of Trinamool Congress (TMC), the second largest Opposition party after the Congress in Parliament with 39 MPs in both the Houses. The TMC had decided to abstain from voting alleging lack of consultation with them on Alva’s candidature.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated Dhankar following his victory in the polls. "The Upper House will definitely benefit from his experience and close understanding of the ground issues," Shah tweeted.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Dhankar's long public life, wide experience and deep understanding of people’s issues will certainly benefit the nation. "I'm confident that he'll make an exceptional V-P and Rajya Sabha Chairman," he said.

Alva, the losing candidate, also congratulated Dhankar on social media. She, however, criticised a section of the opposition parties which did not back her candidature.

Congratulations to Mr Dhankhar on being elected Vice President!

I would like to thank all the leaders of the Opposition, and MPs from across parties who voted for me in this election.

Also, all the volunteers for their selfless service during our short but intense campaign.
— Margaret Alva (@alva_margaret) August 6, 2022