Was vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar asked to resign?

The resignation of vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar on the very first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament is ‘sudden, shocking and inexplicable’, said Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

He was with the V-P till around 5 pm during the day with several other MPs, he added, and had actually spoken to him over the phone at 7.30 pm.

The VP, who is the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, appeared fit and fine during the day, claimed several Rajya Sabha MPs, and voiced their surprise at his sudden resignation.

The vice-president had in fact fixed a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee at 1 pm on Tuesday, 22 July, posted Jairam Ramesh on X, and was to make ‘some major announcement related to the judiciary’ on Tuesday, added Ramesh.

The unexpected resignation triggered wild speculation, although the vice-president cited health reasons and medical advice for his decision. There has been no comment from the Rashtrapati Bhavan or the government so far. The resignation, coming immediately after his meeting with the President, has led to questions being asked whether he was asked to leave. Did the president convey to him the government’s lack of confidence in him and suggested that he quit?

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— Vice-President of India (@VPIndia) July 21, 2025

Never allowed to speak, as LoP it is my right: Rahul Gandhi

Multiple media sources claimed that the resignation was ‘final’ and that the resignation was not required to be accepted or rejected by the president. The resignation letter and its tone and tenor do suggest ‘finality’ of the decision. Since he resigned with immediate effect, he is unlikely to preside over the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday and deputy chairman Harivansh is expected to act as the chairman.

The government could have asked him to resign before the Monsoon session of Parliament if he had lost its confidence, observers pointed out. The fact that the resignation came on the first day of the Monsoon session would indicate that the immediate provocation may have something to do with the developments during the day. There is speculation that the government was not happy with the Rajya Sabha chairman accepting the impeachment notion against Justice Yashwant Verma moved by Opposition MPs when the government was still building a consensus in the Lok Sabha for an impeachment motion signed by MPs of all parties in the House. According to one version the V-P was made the scapegoat for the lack of coordination between the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

If Union minister Jagat Prakash Nadda on Monday embarrassed the V-P on Monday by imperiously telling the Opposition in the House that ‘nothing will go into the record…only what I say will be retained, you know it’, would never be known. It is normally for the chairman to decide what would go into the record and what not; but while media persons and social media reacted to the unusual comment by the Union minister, there was no comment from the opposition or even the Rajya Sabha secretariat. The outgoing vice-president was on the chair at the time.

The sudden resignation of the Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is as shocking as it is inexplicable. I was with him alongside a number of other MPs till around 5 PM today and had spoken to him over the phone at 7:30 PM.

No doubt Mr. Dhankar has to give topmost…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 21, 2025

Taking part in a late-night discussion on TV on Monday, political commentator Ashutosh said that the resignation of the vice-president was just the beginning of a crisis within the government. He was privy to information that he could not share publicly, he declared, but he had reasons to believe that differences between the VP and the government had widened. While his comment indicated that it was the V-P who decided to quit, another commentator Rashid Kidwai hinted that the vice-president was asked to resign to make way for some prominent political figure.

The vice-president had given no indication that he was planning to quit though. Although he did not return to the Rajya Sabha on Monday for the post lunch session, he was in his office till late evening and was busy in discussions with MPs and floor leaders of various political parties. Mr Dhankhar’s term was to end in August, 2027 and he is the first Vice President to resign before his term on health reasons. The other two Vice Presidents who had resigned before their term got over were V.V. Giri and R. Venkatraman, both of whom quit to take part in presidential elections and won.

The Election Commission of India is expected to announce the date for the election of a new vice-president to fill up the vacancy caused by the resignation by Mr Dhankhar. The electoral college which elects the vice-president comprises elected members of both the Houses in Parliament.