New Delhi, 12 Sep

Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan was on Friday sworn in as the 15th Vice President of India. President Droupadi Murmu administered oath to the 67-year-old Radhakrishnan in a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning.

Dressed in a red kurta, Radhakrishnan took oath in English in the name of God.

Radhakrishanan won the vice presidential election on Tuesday, defeating the joint Opposition nominee B Sudershan Reddy by a margin of 152 votes.

The election was necessitated due to the sudden resignation of the then incumbent, Jagdeep Dhankhar, on 21 July over health issues. Dhankhar also attended the ceremony, his first public appearance since his resignation as VP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president JP Nadda were among those who attended the programme.

Former vice presidents Hamid Ansari and Venkaiah Naidu were also present at the ceremony.

CP Radhakrishnan also assumed charge as the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha on Friday. 

Radhakrishnan offered floral tributes at the Prerna Sthal at Parliament House complex where he was welcomed by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and his deputy Arjun Ram Meghwal.

Prerna Sthal houses the statues of India's eminent leaders, freedom fighters and social reformers.

Later he went to the office of Rajya Sabha chairperson and signed documents assuming charge of the presiding officer of the upper house.

The vice president is the ex-officio chair of the Rajya Sabha.

Separately, the Union Home Ministry issued a notification announcing that Radhakrishnan has entered the office of the vice president on 12 September.

Earlier, soon after his swearing in, Radhakrishnan drove down to pay floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. He also paid homage to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Sadaiv Atal and offered tributes to former prime minister Charan Singh at Kisan Ghat.