M Venkaiah Naidu hugs his wife Usha after the win. Picture by Prem Singh New Delhi, Aug. 5: Former BJP chief M. Venkaiah Naidu was today elected Vice-President, defeating Gopalkrishna Gandhi by 272 votes in a "contest of ideologies" where the Opposition seemed to record most of the absentees, invalid votes and cross-voting. First, the victory of the ballot, which has been won emphatically by Venkaiah Naidu garu (an honorific). She added: "Congratulations to Venkaiah Naidu Ji, who will be our next Vice President. Naidu, a former Union minister, tweeted: "It's an honour for me to become Vice-President from a family of an ordinary farmer.

Source: The Telegraph August 05, 2017 21:45 UTC