Understanding the Role of the Vice-President of India

The Vice-President is the second-highest constitutional office in India, yet most people would struggle to describe what the office actually does day to day. Unlike the President, who is the ceremonial head of state, or the Prime Minister, who runs the government, the Vice-President occupies a more specialised space. The office combines two very different jobs: presiding over the Rajya Sabha and standing ready to step into the President’s shoes when needed. Recent events have brought this once-quiet office into sharp public focus, making it a perfect time to understand exactly how it works.

The constitutional foundation of the office 🔗

The office of the Vice-President is established by Articles 63 to 71 in Part V of the Constitution. Article 63 is direct and simple: it states that there shall be a Vice-President of India. The framers modelled the position on the American Vice-President, who similarly serves as the presiding officer of the upper house of the legislature, the Senate.

However, the office has evolved quite differently from its American counterpart. While the United States Vice-President has grown into an integrated executive role and a close presidential advisor, the Indian Vice-President remains primarily a legislative functionary with only contingent executive duties. This distinction is central to understanding the office.

Why the office was created 🔗

The Constituent Assembly designed this office with two clear purposes in mind: ensuring institutional continuity and providing effective parliamentary governance. The drafters wanted a constitutional safety net in case the office of the President suddenly fell vacant. They also needed a neutral presiding officer for the Rajya Sabha. Combining these two functions in one office was an efficient solution that has served the Indian system well.

The dual role explained 🔗

The defining feature of the Vice-Presidency is that it carries two distinct sets of responsibilities at the same time. Understanding these two roles separately is the easiest way to grasp the entire office.

Ex-officio Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha 🔗

The primary and most active role is laid out in Article 64. The Vice-President is the ex-officio Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, which means the role comes automatically with the office. This is the day-to-day work of the Vice-President. In this capacity, the powers and functions are similar to those of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

As Chairperson, the Vice-President presides over sessions of the Rajya Sabha, maintains order and decorum, decides on points of order, and ensures that legislative procedures run smoothly. An important constitutional detail is that the Vice-President is not a member of the Rajya Sabha. Because of this, the office holder cannot vote in ordinary proceedings. The Vice-President only has a casting vote, which is used to break a tie when the votes are equally divided. This design is meant to keep the presiding officer neutral.

Acting as President when required 🔗

The second role is the contingent executive function described in Article 65. The Vice-President steps in to act as President when a vacancy arises in that office due to the President’s death, resignation, removal, or otherwise. The Vice-President can act as President for a maximum period of six months, within which a new President must be elected.

There is also a related but separate situation. When the sitting President is temporarily unable to discharge functions due to absence, illness, or any other cause, the Vice-President discharges those functions until the President resumes office. During such periods, the Vice-President enjoys all the powers, immunities, privileges, and emoluments of the President. Importantly, while acting as President, the Vice-President does not perform the duties of the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.

How the Vice-President is elected 🔗

The election process, governed by Article 66, is one of the most distinctive features of this office and a frequent point of confusion. The Vice-President is elected indirectly by an electoral college.

The electoral college 🔗

The electoral college consists of the members of both Houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Crucially, this includes both elected and nominated members. State legislative assemblies play no role in electing the Vice-President.

This is a key difference from the Presidential election. The President is elected by an electoral college that includes elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the state legislative assemblies. The reasoning behind this difference is logical. The President is the head of state whose authority extends across both the centre and the states, so federal representation through state legislatures is necessary. The Vice-President’s role, by contrast, is largely restricted to the centre, so state representation is not required.

The voting method 🔗

The election uses the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, and voting is conducted by secret ballot. The Election Commission of India conducts the entire process. A candidate must be nominated by at least 20 members of Parliament as proposers and at least 20 others as seconders, and must make a security deposit.

Eligibility criteria 🔗

To be eligible for election as Vice-President, a person must meet the following conditions:

• Citizenship: The candidate must be a citizen of India.
• Age: The candidate must have completed 35 years of age.
• Rajya Sabha qualification: The candidate must be qualified for election as a member of the Rajya Sabha. This contrasts with the President, who must be qualified to be a member of the Lok Sabha.
• No office of profit: The candidate must not hold any office of profit under the Union government, any state government, or any local authority. Holding offices such as President, Vice-President, Governor, or Minister is exempted from this rule.

If a sitting member of either House of Parliament or a state legislature is elected Vice-President, they are deemed to have vacated that seat on the date they enter office.

Term, removal, and resignation 🔗

The Vice-President holds office for a term of five years from the date of entering office. However, the office holder continues to serve even after the term expires until a successor takes charge, which prevents any gap in the office. There is no limit on the number of terms a person can serve, and a Vice-President can be re-elected any number of times.

Resignation and removal 🔗

A Vice-President may resign by writing a letter addressed to the President, under Article 67(a). The office can also end earlier through death.

The removal process, under Article 67(b), is notably simpler than the President’s impeachment. The Vice-President can be removed by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha passed by an effective majority, meaning a majority of all the then members of the House, and then agreed to by the Lok Sabha with a simple majority. No such resolution can be moved without at least 14 days’ advance notice. A striking feature is that the Constitution does not list any specific grounds for removal, and no special two-thirds majority is required, unlike the President’s impeachment. This reflects the Vice-President’s primary accountability as the presiding officer of the Rajya Sabha.

The 2025 vacancy and its lessons 🔗

For decades, the office attracted little dramatic attention. That changed recently. On 21 July 2025, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned citing health reasons, invoking Article 67(a). The resignation came on the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament and was unexpected, since his five-year term was scheduled to run until August 2027.

This event tested the constitutional machinery in real time. Under Article 68(2), a vacancy must be filled as soon as possible, and the Election Commission moved quickly to schedule the election. In the meantime, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha performed the duties of the Chairperson, which is the constitutional arrangement for such a situation. There was no power vacuum and no legal confusion, demonstrating how the system is designed to handle sudden vacancies smoothly.

The election held on 9 September 2025 was a rare directly contested affair. The NDA nominee, C. P. Radhakrishnan, secured 452 votes against the INDIA bloc candidate, former Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy, who received 300 votes. C. P. Radhakrishnan took charge as the Vice-President of India on 12 September 2025, with President Droupadi Murmu administering the oath of office.

Why this office matters 🔗

It is easy to dismiss the Vice-Presidency as a largely ceremonial role, but that would be a mistake. The office performs three vital functions for Indian democracy.

First, it provides continuity of governance. By standing ready to act as President, the Vice-President ensures there is never a constitutional vacuum at the very top of the state. Second, it provides legislative leadership. As Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, the Vice-President is responsible for protecting the autonomy and dignity of the upper house and upholding parliamentary tradition. Third, the office serves as a constitutional link between the legislature and the executive, reinforcing the structure of India’s parliamentary democracy.

The office does carry an inherent tension. The presiding officer is expected to be strictly neutral, yet candidates almost always come from a political background. Balancing political identity with the impartiality the chair demands is the central challenge of the role, and it is precisely this tension that has occasionally pushed the office into the spotlight.

What do you think? Should the Constitution have laid down specific grounds for the removal of the Vice-President, the way it does for the President’s impeachment? And given the demand for neutrality in the Rajya Sabha, do you think a presiding officer drawn from active politics can ever be truly impartial?

References

1. https://www.constitutionofindia.net/articles/article-66-election-of-vice-president/
2. https://www.britannica.com/topic/vice-president-of-India
3. https://eci.gov.in/
4. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/jagdeep-dhankhar-resigns-as-vice-president-cites-health-issues
5. https://www.britannica.com/biography/C-P-Radhakrishnan
6. https://vicepresidentofindia.nic.in/profile