New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday issued the notification for the election to the position of Vice President. As per the notification, August 21 will be the last date for filing nominations, and August 25 will be the last date to withdraw nominations.
The Vice Presidential election was necessitated after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from the position, citing health reasons. Following Dhankhar’s resignation, speculations are being made about who will be elected to India’s second-highest constitutional position, as both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Congress-led INDIA bloc are yet to announce their candidates.
As the speculations over India’s next Vice President continue, we at India TV have brought a list of those who served as Chief Minister and then went on to hold the second-highest constitutional position of the country:
Basappa Danappa Jatti served as India’s Vice President from August 31, 1974, to August 30, 1979. Before getting elected to India’s second-highest post, Jatti served as the Chief Minister of Mysore State (Karnataka) from May 16, 1958, to March 9, 1962.
Apart from being the Chief Minister of Karnataka, he was also the Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry from October 14, 1968, to November 7, 1972. He later became the Governor of Odisha on November 8, 1972, and served in that position till August 20, 1974.
Shankar Dayal Sharma was India’s Vice President from September 3, 1987, to July 25, 1992. Sharma had also served as the Chief Minister of Bhopal State from March 31, 1952, to October 31, 1956, before its merger with Madhya Pradesh.
Interestingly, Sharma is also among those people who served as both Vice President and President of India. He had held the top constitutional position from July 25, 1992, to July 25, 1997.
Apart from this, he also served as Governor of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh, and also as the president of Congress.
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, was a three-time Chief Minister of Rajasthan. His first term was from June 22, 1977, to February 16, 1980, while the second stint was from March 4, 1990, to December 15, 1992. His third and final stint started on December 4, 1993, and ended on December 1, 1998.
On August 19, 2002, Shekhawat was sworn in as the Vice President of India, and continued in that position till July 21, 2007.
