He was the Governor of West Bengal before being elected Vice-President of India

Jagdeep Dhankhar assumed office as the 14th Vice President of India and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to him during a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

Before taking the oath, Dhankhar paid his respects to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. He tweeted, "Felt blessed, inspired and motivated to be ever in service of Bharat in serene sublimity of Raj Ghat while paying respects to Pujya Bapu."

Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and others, were present at his swearing-in ceremony.

Dhankhar, the Vice-Presidential candidate for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and a former West Bengal governor, defeated Opposition candidate and Congress politician Margaret Alva by a large majority in the recently held elections.

With 528 votes against Alva's 182, Dhankhar won the vice-presidential election with a massive vote share of 74.36%, the most in the previous six Vice-Presidential elections. While 725 lawmakers participated in the vice-presidential election, which rounds up 92.9% of the voting, 15 votes were later deemed to be invalid.

Dhankar, born on May 18, 1951, began his professional career as a lawyer, and despite being first generational professional, he rose to be among the top legal experts in the country. In 1990, he was designated as Senior Advocate by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan. Ever since, he was practicing primarily in the Supreme Court.

He was elected to the Parliament of India in 1989 from Jhunjhunu Parliamentary Constituency and served as a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990. He was appointed as the Governor of West Bengal in 2019.