Vice President of Friends Society

Vice President of the Friends Society
फ्रेंड्स सोसाइटी के उपराष्ट्रपति (Hindi)
Emblem of Friends Society
Style	His/Her Excellency
Type	Deputy head of state
Status	Abolished
Abbreviation	VPFS
Member of	National Assembly
Term length	No fixed term length
Precursor	Position created
Formation	15 April 2007
First holder	Tanishkaa Patranabish
Final holder	Anoushkaa Patranabish
Abolished	8 June 2020
Superseded by	Uparashtradhyaksh

The Vice President of Friends Society (2007–2020), and Deputy President (in 2020) was the title of the deputy head of state during the republican period in Vishwamitra (2007–2020). The office was based on the model of the Republic of India where the vice president served as a mere figurehead and deputy to the president, and in cases of vacancy to the presidency, assumed presidential powers and authority. Until 2016, the vice president served as the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament and upon the abolition of bicameral legislature, was designated as the ex-officio deputy speaker of the parliament. From 2019 until the abolition of the position, the vice president served as the speaker of the National Assembly.

The first vice president was Tanishkaa Patranabish who was appointed to office on 15 April 2009 and served in office until succeeding to the presidency on 1 January 2020. The final and longest-serving office-holder is Anoushkaa Patranabish.

History

The office of the Vice President was created along with the offices of the president and the prime minister on 15 April 2007 soon after the acclamation of the foundation of the nation. Tanishkaa Patranabish was appointed as the inaugural vice president and served until her election as the president to succeed Varuna Sriraya on 1 January 2010, who was thereupon replaced by Sriraya as the vice president. Sriraya served in office until his re-election as president on 22 May 2012. He was succeeded by Anoushkaa Patranabish, who remained as the vice president until 2 October 2015. Anoushkaa was succeeded by Bishnu Chetry on 2 October 2015 and was re-elected again in December 2015, and in March 2016. Chetry stepped down after completing three short terms as vice president on 29 May 2016 and was replaced by Arnab Sil. Sil was re-elected in October 2016 and resigned from office on 27 November 2016 in order to return to politics. Upon his resignation, a constitutional crisis was prompted and then union home minister Bishnu Chetry was unanimously chosen to serve as acting vice president until his election for a fresh term on 27 January 2017. Following the resignation of president Klarissa Sriraya on 11 January 2017, Chetry served as acting president for a day until the election of Varuna Sriraya. Chetry resigned as vice president on 22 July 2017 and was replaced by Anoushkaa Patranabish who later succeeded to the presidency on 25 December 2017. Anoushkaa was succeeded by Klarissa Sriraya as the vice president on 25 December 2017 and remained in office until being dismissed in the aftermath of the constitutional coup of 13 May 2018.

The vice presidency was briefly replaced by the Deputy Supreme Commander, until its reinstatement on 11 September 2018. Anoushkaa Patranabish was thereupon appointed as the vice president. She discharged presidential duties in January 2019 during the absence of president Varuna Sriraya. She stepped down from office on 29 September 2019 and was replaced by Klarissa Sriraya. The office of the vice president was abolished on 25 February 2020 by a presidential decree and the Chairman of the Presidential Advisers became the deputy to the president. The vice presidency was reintroduced on 8 March 2020 and Klarissa Sriraya was re-appointed to office. She remained in office until her resignation on 30 April 2020. Under the presidency of Tanishkaa Patranabish, the position was renamed as Deputy President and Anoushkaa Patranabish was re-appointed to office and served until the establishment of monarchy on 8 June 2020.

Election, oath and term

Qualifications

As in the case of the president, to be qualified to be elected as vice president, a person must:

• be a citizen of Friends Society
• not to hold any office of profit.

The vice president was required to qualify to become a member of the Rajya Sabha until 2016, when the upper house was merged into the Senate. Since then, the vice president was required to qualify to become a member of the Senate.

Election

The vice president was always elected indirectly, by the electoral college or the executive council. Most of the elections were unopposed and the sole candidate was declared elect. The first vice presidential election with a contest took place in March 2016 when three candidates were lined up in fray. Incumbent vice president Bishnu Chetry defeated two other candidates, then child welfare minister Arnab Sil and finance minister Mridul Amin. The next election took place two months later in May 2016 when then finance minister Arnab Sil defeated child welfare minister Mridul Amin. Sil further defeated minister Abhiraj Kar for a second term in October 2016. In all following elections, the sole candidate was elected unopposed. No election has been held since 2019 as all the appointees were presidential appointments.

The vice president could resign from office by submitting a letter of resignation to the president. The resignation became effective from the day it was accepted. Arnab Sil became the first to resign, followed by Bishnu Chetry in 2017 and Anoushkaa Patranabish in 2019.

Oath

Before assuming office, the vice president was required to take an oath or affirmation before the president:

"I, A.B., do swear in the name of God /solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of Friends Society as by law established and that I will discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter."

Term

The vice presidential term length was not specified until 2019 when the term was fixed to one year. Most vice presidents remained in office until an election was announced or until they resigned from office. Until 2016, the vice president was designated as the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament. Following the merger of the two houses into the unicameral Senate, the vice president became its deputy speaker while the president served as speaker. In 2019, the vice president was designated as the ex-officio speaker of the National Assembly.

The line of succession to the vice presidency was not specified. This prompted a constitutional crisis following the resignation of Arnab Sil as vice president on 27 November 2016. Following his resignation, prime minister Varuna Sriraya made a proposal to appoint an acting vice president with the appointment of former vice president and a senior member of this cabinet Bishnu Chetry. The vice presidential line of succession was delineated on 3 July 2019 by a notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The line of succession composed of:

1. Union Minister of Home Affairs
2. Union Minister of Finance
3. Governor of Uttar Guwahati
4. Governor of Kamrup Pradesh

List of vice presidents

#		Portrait	Name (Lifespan)	Term of office			Mandate	Immediate prior position held	Party	President
Vice Presidents of Children's Group
	1		Tanishkaa Patranabish (born 2004)	15 April 2007	31 December 2009	7002991000000000000♠2 years, 260 days	–	None	Non-partisan	Varuna Sriraya
	2		Varuna Sriraya (born 2002)	1 January 2010	22 May 2012	7002872000000000000♠2 years, 142 days	–	President		Tanishkaa Patranabish
	3		Anoushkaa Patranabish (born 2010)	22 May 2012	2 October 2015	7003122800000000000♠3 years, 133 days	–	Minister of Child Welfare		Varuna Sriraya
										Klarissa Sriraya
	4		Bishnu Chetry (born 2001)	2 October 2015	29 May 2016	7002240000000000000♠240 days	–	None
										Varuna Sriraya
							Mar. 2016		Secular	Tanishkaa Patranabish
	5		Arnab Sil (born 2004)	29 May 2016	2 October 2016	7002126000000000000♠126 days	May. 2016	Minister of Finance	Freedom
							Oct. 2016			Anoushkaa Patranabish
	–		Bishnu Chetry (born 2001) Acting	2 October 2016	27 January 2017	7002117000000000000♠117 days	–	Minister of Home Affairs	Secular
										Klarissa Sriraya (Acting)
Vice Presidents of Friends Society
	(4)		Bishnu Chetry (born 2001)	27 January 2017	22 July 2017	7002176000000000000♠176 days	Jan. 2017	Acting Vice President	Secular	Klarissa Sriraya
										Varuna Sriraya
	(3)		Anoushkaa Patranabish (born 2010)	22 July 2017	25 December 2017	7002156000000000000♠156 days	Jul. 2017	Minister of Culture and Minister of Cabinet Affairs
	6		Klarissa Sriraya (born 2005)	25 December 2017	13 May 2018	7002139000000000000♠139 days	–	Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs	Independent	Anoushkaa Patranabish
Position abolished (14 May – 11 September 2018)
	(3)		Anoushkaa Patranabish (born 2010)	11 September 2018	29 September 2019	7002383000000000000♠1 year, 18 days	–	Deputy Supreme Leader Acting Head of State	Secular	Varuna Sriraya
									Congress
	(6)		Klarissa Sriraya (born 2005)	29 September 2019	25 February 2020	7002149000000000000♠149 days	–	Leader of the Opposition
Position abolished (25 February – 8 March 2020)
	(6)		Klarissa Sriraya (born 2005)	8 March 2020	30 April 2020	7001530000000000000♠53 days	–	Chairperson, Council of Presidential Advisers	Congress	Varuna Sriraya
Deputy President of Friends Society
	(3)		Anoushkaa Patranabish (born 2010)	1 May 2020	7 June 2020	7001370000000000000♠37 days	–	Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs	Congress	Tanishkaa Patranabish

Timeline

Term in office

1. Anoushkaa Patranabish – 4 years, 344 days
2. Tanishkaa Patranabish – 2 years, 260 days
3. Varuna Sriraya – 2 years, 142 days
4. Bishnu Chetry – 1 year, 168 days
5. Klarissa Sriraya – 341 days
6. Arnab Sil – 126 days

See also

• List of deputy heads of state of Vishwamitra