Jagdeep Dhankhar is new Vice President, defeats Margaret Alva
New Delhi, Aug 6: NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar was declared elected as the Vice President of India on Saturday after he bagged 528 votes against his rival candidate Margaret Alva's 182.
Dhankhar, 71, will succeed M Venkaiah Naidu who demits office August 10.
The returning officer of the vice presidential election said of the total 780 electors, 725 cast their ballots but 15 votes were found to be invalid.
The turnout was 92.94 per cent, he said, adding that a candidate needed 356 votes to get elected.
Of all the valid votes, Dhankhar secured 74.36 per cent. He has the highest winning margin in the last six vice presidential elections held since 1997.
As many as 55 MPs did not vote in the vice presidential election held from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday.
The Trinamool Congress, which has a total of 36 MPs, including 23 in Lok Sabha, had abstained from the election. However, two of its MPs had cast their ballots.
The numbers were stacked in favour of Dhankhar as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enjoys an absolute majority in Lok Sabha and has clear advantage in Rajya Sabha.
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B.Tech student dies by suicide in hostel room near Bengaluru: Police
Bengaluru, May 17: A first-year B.Tech student died allegedly by hanging herself from a ceiling fan in her hostel room at a private engineering college in Heelalige near Bengaluru, police said on Friday.
The deceased has been identified as Harshitha (18), they said.
According to the police, on Thursday evening, Harshitha was found hanging in her room which was allegedly locked from inside. A few students who saw her hanging body through the window alerted the college management. They broke open the door and rushed her to the hospital where she was declared brought dead.
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"She died by suicide. However, no suicide note was found from the spot. But we are probing the exact cause that might have led her to take this extreme step," a senior police officer said.
