New Delhi: India will elect its 15th Vice President today, September 9, as members of both Houses of Parliament will cast their votes in the high-stakes contest. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA seemed confident of victory for its candidate, CP Radhakrishnan, while the Opposition's INDIA Bloc rallied in support of candidate former Supreme Court Justice B. Sudershan Reddy.
The voting for the election has begun at 10 am and will continue till 5 pm. All MPs can vote in the V-P election in a secret ballot.
The V-P election is taking place within two months after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from the post. Dhankhar quit during the recently concluded monsoon session of Parliament, citing health reasons.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the candidature of CP Radhakrishnan has generated "immense enthusiasm" all across. "Participated in the NDA meeting in Delhi, attended by MPs across the NDA family. The candidature of Thiru CP Radhakrishnan has generated immense enthusiasm all across. People believe that he will be an excellent Vice President, who will enrich the office with his wisdom and insights," he said in a post on X.
How Do Numbers Stack Up?
The total strength of the electoral college for the V-P poll is 781 MPs. Out of this total number, the Lok Sabha has the strength of 542 MPs, while the Rajya Sabha has 239 MPs. The NDa has a clear majority on paper. The ruling alliance has the support of around 422 MPs. Meanwhile, Jagan Mohan reddy-led YSR COngress Party, which is not part of the NDA, announced its support to Rashakrishnan. Taking the NDA's tally over 430 MPs. Notably, the NDA has 422 MPs, and there are 11 MPs of the YSR Congress Party.
Meanwhile, the Biju Janata Dal and K Chandrasekhara Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will abstain from the voting. The BJD has seven MPs in Rajya Sabha , while the BRS has four MPs in the Upper House. Both of these parties are part of the NDA. The smaller parties, Independent MPs have reportedly combined strength of almost 10 votes.
If we talk about the strength of the Opposition bloc, it is expected to get around 320 votes. In the 2022 V-P polls, NDA's candidate Dhankhar secured 528 votes against the Opposition's Margaret Alva, who secured only 182 votes.
Know About V-P Candidates:
CP Radhakrishnan: Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, born on October 20, 1957 in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, is a veteran leader of the BJP with a career spanning over four decades. He was sworn in as the 24th Governor of Maharashtra on July 31, 2024, after having served as the Governor of Jharkhand from February 2023 to July 2024.
B Sudershan Reddy: Justice (retired) Reddy was born on July 8, 1946, and was enrolled as an Advocate at Hyderabad with the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh on December 27, 1971. He worked as a Government Pleader in the High Court during 1988-90. Justice Reddy also worked s Additional Standing Counsel for the Central Government for a period of 6 months during 1990.
Justice (retd.) Reddy also served as Legal Adviser and Standing Counsel for Osmania University. He was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on May 2, 1995. He was appointed as Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court in 2005. In 2007, he was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Reddy retired on July 6, 2011.
