C P Radhakrishnan sworn in as 15th Vice President; Jagdeep Dhankar attends function

NEW DELHI: C P Radhakrishnan of Chennai was Friday sworn in as the 15th Vice President of India. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to him at the function held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan at 10 am. Radhakrishnan will meet main leaders in the Rajya Sabha in the afternoon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former President Ram Nath Kovind, former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others attended the oath-taking function.

Radhakrishnan, a senior BJP leader from Tamil Nadu having RSS roots, was elected as the Vice President on Tuesday. Radhakrishnan is known as the 'Vajpayee of Coimbatore'.

Radhakrishnan secured 452 votes while opposition candidate and former Supreme Court judge B Sudarshan Reddy got 300 votes. Out of 781 MPs in both houses of Parliament, 767 voted. 14 failed to turn up. BJD with seven MPs and BRS with four members abstained.

When the NDA had the backing of 427 MPs on paper, 11 lawmakers from the YSRCP also supported. The NDA candidate received 14 votes more than expected.