Hamid Ansari takes oath as Indias Vice-President

Hamid Ansari took the oath for his second term as Indias Vice-President at the Presidential palace in New Delhi on Saturday.Indian President Pranab Mukherjee chaired the swearing-in ceremony.A nominee of the ruling Congress-led alliance, the 75-year-old Ansari defeated opposition-backed rival Jaswant Singh by 252 votes for the largely ceremonial post.Of the 736 votes cast, Ansari got 490 votes while Jaswant Singh got 238. Eight votes were declared invalid.Ansari, a former diplomat and academic, first became vice-president of India in 2007. He is only the second person after Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan to serve consecutive terms as the vice-president.An electoral college of members of parliament elects the vice-president, who also acts as chairperson of the upper house of the parliament.Ansari previously headed the National Commission for Minorities, a body set up to protect the rights of the minorities.He was also Indias envoy to the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Australia and the countrys permanent representative to the United Nations, according to his official bio-data.He is a former vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University and a recipient of the countrys prestigious civilian award, the Padma Shri.In July, former finance minister and UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee was elected to the ceremonial post of president.