Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar Resigns Due to Health Reason
You can read his full statement here. The resignation now goes to the President.
Dhankhar is 74, and resigned after a tumultuous first day of the monsoon session of the Parliament.
However, there is no reason to believe that the ruckus in the Parliament and Dhankhar's resignation were related. He had presided over the Rajya Sabha yesterday.
Dhankhar is far from the first VP who has resigned while in office, but the first to do so on health grounds. Almost all the other people in the list resigned to contest elections for the Presidential post.
While we await the eventual acceptance of Dhankhar's resignation, here are the next possible steps:
Once the resignation is accepted, the Election Commission will form a fresh election for the vacant position.
Who can apply? To ensure bipartisanship, a potential VP candidate should not represent any constituency at either the national or the state legislature level.
Who can vote? MPs of both houses of the Parliament will vote for their next VP.
What happens meanwhile? RS Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh will preside over the Rajya Sabha, at least for the remaining portion of the monsoon session.
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