Vice President of India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Vice President of India is the second-highest office in India, after the President.[2] The Vice President is elected indirectly by an electoral college consisting members of both houses of the Parliament. The Vice President would ascend to the Presidency upon the death, resignation, impeachment, or other situations leading to the vacancy in the Office of President. The normal function of the Vice President is to serve as theChairman of the Rajya Sabha.
The current Vice President of India is Hamid Ansari, since 11 August 2007, and re-elected on 7 August 2012 with the appointment by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee.
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[edit]Powers and duties
[edit]Acting President of India
The Constitution provides that should "there occur a vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation, removal or otherwise, the Vice President shall act as President until a new President is elected and enters upon his office" (Article 65(1)). After 1957,as per revised protocol the second highest post in India is of vice president which previously belonged to the prime minister of India. If the vacancy is going to be caused by a regular expiration of the term of the President, elections have to be completed before the term expires. Even if there is a brief interregnum owing to a delay of the elections, the President shall continue to hold office until his successor enters upon the office (Article 56(1)c). Thus the Vice President would ascend to the Presidency only under extraordinary circumstances such as: 1. Death of the President 2. Resignation of the President 3. Removal of the President by impeachment 4. Invalidation of the election of the President by the Supreme Court
Under such extraordinary circumstances, a Presidential election must be held no later than six months