Which Indian Vice Presidents have been elected Presidents?
A total of six Indian Vice Presidents went on to be elected as Presidents later. The list includes Dr S Radhakrishnan, who was elected as the country's President after serving two terms as the Vice President. The other five people on the list are Dr Zakir Hussain, V V Giri, R Venkataraman, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, and K R Narayanan.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu as its candidate for the vice-presidential election on Monday.A veteran parliamentarian who has a close and long association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Venkaiah Naidu ticks all the boxes for the BJP as the vice-presidential candidate. The Opposition has already named Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi as its choice for the vice-presidential post. Both Venkaiah Naidu and Gopalkrishna Gandhi have filed their nominations for the vice-presidential election today. Of them, one will succeed Hamid Ansari as vice-president and will also be the chairman of Rajya Sabha. In the past, there have been several instances when the Vice-President of India went on to become the President.While no one knows if history will repeat itself in near future, we take a look at six such people who were first elected as vice-president and later became the country's president.1) Dr S RadhakrishnanIn 1952, Dr S Radhakrishnan and Janab Shaik Khadir Hussain filed nominations for vice-presidential election. The Returning Officer found Radhakrishnan's nomination valid and declared him unopposed to the office of the vice-president on April 25, 1952. After two terms as vice-president, Dr Radhakrishnan was elected as the second President of India in 1962. 2) Dr Zakir HussainBefore Dr Radhakrishnan's term as vice-president ended, elections were held to choose his successor. While Dr Zakir Hussain polled 568 votes, N C Samantsinhar secured 14 votes. Dr Hussain assumed the office of vice-president on May 13, 1962. He later succeded Dr Radhakrishnan as the third President of India in 1967 and remained in office till his untimely death in May 1969.3) V V GiriAfter Dr Zakir Hussain, V V Giri succeeded him as the vice-president of India in 1967. In the vice-presidential election, Giri got 483 votes against 193 votes for Professor Mohammad Habib.V V Giri assumed the office of vice-president on May 13, 1967. Following Dr Hussain's death in 1969, Giri also took charge as the acting president. He resigned from both the posts, vice-president and acting president, to contest the presidential election. Giri faced stiff competition from N Sanjeeva Reddy but eventually managed to get past the required quota of votes in the second count. Giri was sworn in as the President of India on August 24, 1969.4) R VenkataramanRamaswami Venkataraman assumed the office of vice-president on August 31, 1984. In the vice-presidential election, he secured an easy win over Bapu Chandrasen Kamble, and succeeded M Hidayatullah to the post. In 1987, R Venkataraman succeeded Gyani Zail Singh as the next President. 5) Dr Shankar Dayal SharmaAfter R Venkataram was elected as the President, he tendered his resignation as the vice-president. The election for the post was announced and 27 candidates filed their nomination. On scrutiny, the Returning Officer found only one nomination valid, that of Shankar Dayal Sharma. He was elected unopposed to the post of vice-president and assumed office on September 3, 1987. He fought the presidential election of 1992 and beat competition from G G Swell and Ram Jethmalani. Shankar Dayal Sharma succeeded R Venkataraman as the president and assumed office on July 25, 1992. 6) K R NarayananShankar Dayal Sharma resigned as vice-president after becoming the President, and elections were announced. K R Narayanan won the vice-presidential election with an overwhelming margin and secured 700 of the 701 valid votes. He was declared elected on August 19, 1992. In the 1997 presidential election, K R Narayanan defeated T N Seshan with a huge margin to succeed Shankar Dayal Sharma as the next president. (Source: Election Commission of India) ALSO READ:Before Ram Nath Kovind vs Meira Kumar, a look at biggest, closest victory margins in presidential elections