The office of the Vice-President of India, the country’s second-highest constitutional authority, has again become the focus of national attention. On 1 August 2025, the Election Commission of India announced that the Vice-Presidential election will be held on 9 September 2025, following the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar on 21 July 2025. Notification for the election is scheduled for 7 August, with the last date for filing nominations set at 21 August.

Why this is in the news?

The Vice-President’s resignation and the scheduled election are newsworthy for several reasons:

• Jagdeep Dhankhar assumed office as the 14th Vice-President in August 2022 and resigned mid-term on 21 July 2025, becoming only the third Vice-President in India’s history to step down before completing the five-year term.
• The process that follows — announcement by the Election Commission, nomination window, secret ballot polling using proportional representation with a single transferable vote, and counting — is a major constitutional exercise involving Members of Parliament from both Houses.

Constitutional significance of the Vice-President

The Vice-President is a unique constitutional office with specific powers and duties that affect both the executive and the legislature:

• Article 63 establishes the existence of the office: “there shall be a Vice-President of India.”
• Article 64 makes the Vice-President the ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), giving the office an important parliamentary role.
• Article 64(2) provides that when the President is unable to discharge duties owing to absence, illness or other cause, the Vice-President discharges presidential functions with all the powers, immunities and emoluments of the President.
• Article 65 allows the Vice-President to act as President in the event of a vacancy in the President’s office (death, resignation or removal) until a new President enters office.

There is no explicit constitutional provision that directly says who performs the Vice-President’s functions if that office becomes vacant. For the Rajya Sabha’s functioning, parliamentary practice provides that the Deputy Chairman or another member authorised by the President may perform the duties of the Chairperson.

Process of election of the Vice-President

Eligibility and nomination

• Any citizen of India who is at least 35 years of age and is a registered voter in any State or Union Territory is eligible to be a candidate for Vice-President.
• As required by law, a candidate’s nomination must be proposed by at least 20 Members of Parliament and seconded by at least 20 other MPs.
• Article 66(2) states that the Vice-President cannot be a member of either House of Parliament or of a state legislature at the time of election.

Term, resignation and removal

• Article 67 provides that the Vice-President holds office for a term of five years from the date on which they enter upon their office. The Vice-President may, however, continue to hold office even after the expiry of the term until their successor enters upon office.
• The Vice-President may resign by submitting a resignation to the President.
• Removal from office can occur by a resolution in the Rajya Sabha passed by a majority of the members at the time and agreed by the House of the People (Lok Sabha).

Electoral college and voting system

• For the 9 September 2025 election, the Election Commission stated the electoral college will consist of Members of both Houses of Parliament — elected and nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and elected members of the Lok Sabha — taking into account any vacant seats. (The EC has provided the details of present elected and nominated members and noted the existing vacancies in both Houses.)
• Voting is by secret ballot, and the election uses proportional representation with a single transferable vote. Each Member of Parliament casts a ballot in which they rank candidates in order of preference.
• Unlike the Presidential election, all votes carry equal value in the Vice-Presidential election — there is no vote weightage.
• The quota required for election is calculated by dividing the total number of valid votes by two and adding one (fractions, if any, are ignored). A candidate must reach this quota to be declared elected.
• If no candidate reaches the quota on the first count, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated, and their votes are transferred to remaining candidates according to the next available preference. This process continues — eliminating the lowest candidate and transferring votes — until a candidate crosses the quota.

Interesting historical facts about previous Vice-Presidents

• V. V. Giri was the first Vice-President to resign from the post. He resigned to become Acting President after President Zakir Hussain died in May 1969, and later became President in his own right.
• Krishan Kant is the only Vice-President to die while in office.
• S. Radhakrishnan, the first Vice-President (1952–62), served two terms as Vice-President and was subsequently elected President in 1962.
• Other Vice-Presidents who later became Presidents include Zakir Hussain (1967–69), V. V. Giri (1969–74), R. Venkataraman (1987–92), Shankar Dayal Sharma (1992–97) and K. R. Narayanan (1997–2002).

Conclusion

The Vice-Presidential election of September 9, 2025 follows a rare mid-term resignation and will test parliamentary arithmetic and political consensus in a process that is constitutionally important though procedurally distinct from Presidential elections. The Vice-President’s dual role — as the second highest constitutional authority and as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha — makes the outcome significant for both the legislature’s functioning and, potentially, the executive in extraordinary circumstances.