Consider the following statements regarding the current Vice President of India: Statement 1: Chandrapuram Ponnusami (C.P.) Radhakrishnan is the Vice President of India, took charge on 12th September 2025. Statement 2: Unlike the Presidential election, the electoral college for the Vice President includes nominated members of both Houses of Parliament. Which of the statements above is/are correct?
- (a)Both Statements 1 and 2 are correct
- (b)Only statement 1 is correct
- (c)Neither Statement 1 nor 2 is correct
- (d)Only statement 2 is correct
Answer
Why
Correct — A. Both statements hold.
Statement 1: C. P. Radhakrishnan took the oath as Vice President on 12 September 2025. President Droupadi Murmu administered it.
Statement 2: Article 66(1) builds the Vice President's electoral college from the members of both Houses of Parliament, nominated members included. Article 54 gives the President's vote only to elected members of Parliament and the State Assemblies.
Why the others are wrong
- (b)Only statement 1 is correct — Rejects Statement 2, which is true. Article 66(1) says members of both Houses, with no 'elected' qualifier, so nominated members vote for the Vice President though not for the President.
- (c)Neither Statement 1 nor 2 is correct — Both statements are true: the 12 September 2025 oath is on record, and Article 66(1) includes nominated members. 'Neither' would need both to fail.
- (d)Only statement 2 is correct — Rejects Statement 1, which is true. C. P. Radhakrishnan took the oath on 12 September 2025, and the Vice President's official website describes him as the 15th Vice President.
Concept
The two indirect elections differ in who votes.
The President is elected by the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the State Legislative Assemblies, with Delhi and Puducherry counted as States (Article 54).
The Vice President is elected by all members of both Houses, nominated ones included, and no State legislator votes (Article 66). That election uses proportional representation by single transferable vote, in secret ballot.
Statement 2's 'nominated members of both Houses' is looser than today's Parliament. Under Article 334, as amended by the 104th Amendment, Anglo-Indian nomination to the Lok Sabha ended seventy years after the Constitution began.
The nominated members who vote are now the Rajya Sabha's, where the President nominates twelve. The rule the statement tests, that nominated members vote, still holds.
Before the Eleventh Amendment (1961), the Vice President was elected by both Houses assembled at a joint meeting.
Key facts
- C. P. Radhakrishnan took the oath as the 15th Vice President of India on 12 September 2025.
- President Droupadi Murmu administered his oath of office.
- Article 66(1): the Vice President is elected by an electoral college of the members of both Houses of Parliament.
- Article 54: the President is elected by the elected members of both Houses and of the State Legislative Assemblies.
Study next
Common traps
- Assuming the two electoral colleges are the same and rejecting Statement 2.
- Carrying the Vice President's rule over to the President and thinking nominated members vote in the presidential election.
This item pairs a current-affairs fact with an Article-level rule. The oath itself is asked at 19 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.12 (the President administers it), and 24 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.15 asks which Article governs the President's election (Article 54).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.