4 of total 16 elections held for vice-president posts won uncontested

NEW DELHI: Four of the total 16 elections held so far to the office of Vice-President of India were won uncontested, three due to rejection of nomination papers of the rival candidates and one due to lack of any opponent.

While S Radhakrishnan was elected unopposed as Vice-President twice, first in 1952 after the only other nomination paper filed was rejected and then in 1957 as he was the only validly nominated candidate; Mohammad Hidayatullah was elected unopposed in 1979. In 1987, Shankar Dayal Sharma was also elected unopposed, but only after the nomination papers filed by 26 other candidates were found to be invalid.

There were two contestants in 10 of the Vice-Presidential elections held so far, and three and six contestants in one each. Five Vice-Presidents exited the office before the end of their term - Krishna Kant due to his untimely demise in 2002; V V Giri, R Venkataraman and Shankar Dayal Sharma resigned from the post of Vice-President to become President in 1969 (Giri filled up the vacancy created by the death of his predecssor Zakir Hussain),1987 and 1992 respectively. Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned due to "medical reasons" last week.

These interesting details on 16 Vice-Presidential elections held so far can be found in a booklet put together by EC ahead of the 17th Vice-Presidential election, summarising the Constitutional provisions relating to the election, system of voting, and details of past elections in simple language, to enhance public awareness.

Though the electoral college for the Vice-Presidential election is small, comprising only members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated ones, invalid votes were reported in almost all the elections that witnessed a contest. While 14 votes were declared invalid in the 1962 Vice-Presidential poll, the number was 3 in 1967, 10 in 1974, 30 in 1984, 10 in 1992, 46 in 1997, 7 in 2002, 10 in 2007, 8 in 2012, 11 in 2017 and 15 in 2022.