West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who has been at loggerheads with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, will be the NDA candidate for Vice-Presidential polls.

BJP chief JP Nadda announced the name of Dhankhar as the NDA candidate after his party’s Parliamentary Board meeting at party headquarters here.

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“After detailed discussion and considering all the names, the BJP Parliamentary Board has decided to announce the name of Kisan Putra Jagdeep Dhankhar as the BJP and NDA candidate for the post of Vice-President. Presently, he is the Governor of West Bengal and has been in public life for almost three decades,” Nadda said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP chief, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan were present in the meeting.

Following the announcement, Modi said he believes Dhankhar will be an outstanding Chair in the Rajya Sabha and guide the proceedings of the House with the aim of furthering national progress.

“Kisan Putra Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji is known for his humility. He brings with him an illustrious legal, legislative and gubernatorial career. He has always worked for the well-being of farmers, youth, women and the marginalised. Glad that he will be our VP candidate,” said Modi in a Twitter post.

“Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji has excellent knowledge of our Constitution. He is also well-versed with legislative affairs. I am sure that he will be an outstanding Chair in the Rajya Sabha and guide the proceedings of the House with the aim of furthering national progress,” the Prime Minister added.

The BJP-led NDA candidate Dhankhar is all set to become the next Vice-President after the election as the voters are the members of Parliament and the BJP has its numbers in the Lok Sabha while in the Rajya Sabha it is the single largest party having more than 90 seats.

In the last election, the Opposition fielded Gopalkrishna Gandhi, but he lost to BJP’s M Venkaiah Naidu. In 2017, Naidu polled 516 votes defeating the opposition’s Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who could manage only 244 votes.

The last date for filing of nominations for the Vice-President poll is July 19 and election is scheduled to be held on August 6. The date of counting, if required, shall be taken on the same day.

Born in an agrarian household in a remote village in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district, Dhankhar completed his school education from Sainik School, Chittorgarh. After finishing his graduation in Physics, he pursued LLB from the University of Rajasthan. Despite being the first-generation professional, he became one of the leading lawyers in Rajasthan.

Dhankhar has practiced law in both the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court of India. He entered public life after getting elected as a Member of Parliament from Jhunjhunu in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections. Subsequently, he also served as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990. In 1993, he was elected to the Rajasthan Assembly from the Kishangarh constituency in Ajmer district.

In July 2019, he was appointed as the Governor of West Bengal.