NEW DELHI: The ruling NDA candidate and former Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu was on Saturday elected as the next Vice-President of India by securing over two-thirds of votes. He defeated the Opposition candidate and former diplomat Gopalkrishna Gandhi by a big margin of 272 votes – highest victory margin in the last 30 years.

Reacting to his expected victory, Naidu said, “Coming from an agricultural background, I never imagined I would be here. Agriculture has no proper voice in Indian polity.” Thanking Prime Minister and other party leaders for their support, the vice president-elect said he will seek to utilise the vice presidential institution to strengthen the hands of the president and secondly uphold the dignity of the Upper House.

Naidu secured 516 votes as against 244 got by Gandhi. Though Naidu’s win is not a surprise, the result exceeded the BJP’s expectation with party sources saying that the number of votes polled by the NDA candidate could not be possible unless he got about 20 cross-votes from the Opposition parties.

In all, 771 out of 785 MPs cast their votes. Votes of 11 MPs were, however, declared invalid. Fourteen MPs of different political parties did not vote due to varied reasons.

Naidu will take oath of his office on August 11. The term of incumbent Hamid Ansari will come to an end on August 10. Ansari held the position for two consecutive terms during (2007-2017).

The Vice-President is elected by an electoral college, which consists of the members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (both elected and nominated members).

In an electoral college of 790 (545 from Lok Sabha and 245 from Rajya Sabha), total 785 members were supposed to cast their votes in the vice-presidential poll on Saturday. While 2 seats each are vacant in both the Houses, one Lok Sabha BJP MP Chedi Paswan was not eligible to vote due to a pending case of disqualification against him.

Two BJP MPs – Vijay Goel and Sanwar Lal Jat – could not vote due to hospitalisation. Jat fell unconscious during a meeting chaired by party president Amit Shah in Jaipur on July 22. He has been in ICU since then.

Congratulating Venkaiah Naidu on being elected as the country’s Vice President, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, saying he is confident that Naidu will serve the nation as a diligent and dedicated Vice President, committed to the the goal of nation building. He said, “My mind is filled with memories of working with Venkaiah Naidu in the party and government. (I) will cherish this aspect of our association”.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi also congratulated Naidu and thanked all those who voted for him. “I congratulate M Venkaiah Naidu Garu on his victory. I thank all the MPs who voted for me. They voted for free speech and pluralism. The election saw two victories – one of Naidu, another of free speech. The second victory belongs to all the people of India”, Gandhi was quoted as saying by a news agency.

The voting was started at 10 am on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Venkaiah Naidu as well as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath, still a Lok Sabha member, were among the first to cast their ballot. The prime minister was, in fact, standing in queue even before the voting hall opened at 10 am.

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and actor Rekha, who have often been criticised for their low attendance in the Rajya Sabha, also cast their votes. Vote cast by the BJD MP Ramchandra Hansda was also among the highlight of the day as he got special permission from a CBI court to vote in the Vice Presidential elections. Hansda has been in jail in a chit fund case for over one-and-a-half year.

Among the 14 MPs who did not vote include four members from Trinamool Congress, two from BJP, two from Congress, two from IUML, one nominated member, one independent member and one each from NCP and PMK.