New Delhi/Chandigarh: NDA nominee and Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan has been declared the 15th Vice-President of India, winning with 452 first preference votes against Opposition’s candidate, former Supreme Court judge Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, who secured 300 votes. The victory margin stood at 152 votes, Rajya Sabha Secretary-General PC Mody announced.
Voting began at 10 am and concluded by 5 pm, with counting completed the same evening.
Punjab MPs mark dissent with abstention
From Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chose to abstain from the contest, citing the devastation caused by recent floods in the state. Significantly, independent MP Amritpal Singh and Faridkot MP Sarbjit Singh also stayed away from the election, making it clear that Punjab’s voice in Delhi is one of protest and prioritisation of local crises over national power games.
By standing out together, these leaders underlined that at a time when over 3.5 lakh people remain displaced and losses are estimated at ₹14,000 crore, political posturing in Parliament cannot overshadow Punjab’s ground reality.
Other abstentions: BJD and BRS
Punjab was not alone. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana also abstained.
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BJD reiterated its “equal distance” stand from BJP and Congress.
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BRS said its decision was an expression of farmer distress over the shortage of urea in Telangana.
The contenders at a glance
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CP Radhakrishnan: BJP’s veteran from Tamil Nadu, known for laying the party’s foundations in the south, former Jharkhand and Maharashtra Governor.
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Justice B. Sudershan Reddy: Retired Supreme Court judge, Opposition’s nominee, and the first ex-judge to contest a Vice-Presidential election.
Punjab’s perspective
While Delhi celebrates a routine political result, Punjab’s abstention sends a pointed message: flood relief, debt, and survival outweigh Parliament arithmetic.
For Punjab, this election will be remembered less for the margin of victory and more for the silence of its representatives — a silence rooted in the roar of rivers back home.
👉 Stay with Samvad Patar for national stories told from Punjab’s lens.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said: “Congratulations to Shri C.P. Radhakrishnan ji on being elected as the Vice President of India. Throughout his distinguished public life, he has embodied humility, integrity and a deep commitment to service. His vast experience, profound knowledge of constitutional and legislative affairs and unwavering connect with the people will further enrich his new role.
I am confident that under his leadership, the Rajya Sabha will scale new heights and our parliamentary traditions will be further strengthened. My best wishes to him for a successful and impactful tenure.”
In his first comments after CP Radhakrishnan’s victory as India’s next V-P, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav questioned whether former V-P Jagdeep Dhankhar was “really ill or was he made ill”. Dhankhar had resigned from his post, citing health reasons.
Yadav said that Dhankhar “conducted the House very well until the evening. Now where is he? No one knows, no health bulletin has been issued, nor has anything been released, has he been placed under house arrest so that the real reason doesn’t come out…”
Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated NDA V-P candidate CP Radhakrishnan after he won the elections. “I firmly believe that your sagacity as a leader who has risen from the grassroots of the society and profound knowledge about administration will help us in bringing out the best in our parliamentary democracy to serve the marginalised,” Shah said.
Celebrations begin outside the residence of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi as NDA candidate C.P. Radhakrishnan has been elected as the Vice President of India.
Out of 781 MPs, 767 members of parliament voted, coming to 98.2 per cent of the total.
Of these, 752 voted were held as valid and 15 termed invalid.
The quota or halfway mark was 377.
The NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan received 452 first preference votes. The Opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy got 300 first preference votes.
This way the victory margin was of 152 votes
PC Mody, the Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha, made the announcement, informing about the voting breakup.
Here’s what he said
PC Mody, Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha says: “NDA nominee and Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan got 452 first preference votes. He has been elected as the Vice-President of India… Opposition’s vice-presidential candidate Justice Sudershan Reddy secured 300 first preference votes.”
Among those not taking The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) cited the Punjab government and Centre’s “abandonment” of the state in the aftermath of the floods to abstain from the Vice-Presidential poll on Tuesday. But the move has brought to the fore the party’s fissures and shrinking support base to the fore again.
in the vice-presidential election Tuesday, 12 MPs out of 781 did not vote, official sources said after polling concluded.
Counting has started for votes cast in V-P elections. Counting agents of both candidates are present.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to social media platform X to post that Opposition’s all “315 MPs have turned up for voting”, resulting in an “unprecedented 100% turnout”.
Till 3 pm, out of a total possible 768 votes, 762 have been polled, according to sources.
The Vice-Presidential contest is entering its final leg with 96 per cent votes polled till 3 PM, news agency PTI reported.
Watch the video to find out how a Vice-President is elected
A month after the resignation of Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, elections for the post are underway in Parliament Tuesday.
The voting will take place until 5 pm, with counting beginning an hour later.
C P Radhakrishnan, the candidate of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has the benefit of the numbers being on his side. Radhakrishnan is the current Maharashtra governor.
On the other side as the Opposition candidate is former Supreme Court judge Sudershan Reddy.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed the decision of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and Shiromani Akali Dal to stay away from the vice presidential poll was a setback to the ruling BJP.
Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Raut asserted the Opposition INDIA bloc votes will remain intact in the poll and the fight will be eventful.
Voting was underway on Tuesday to elect a new vice president, for which the contest is between NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint Opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy.
The Naveen Patnaik-headed BJD and the KCR-led BRS have abstained from voting in the vice presidential election, while the Shiromani Akali Dal said it will boycott the poll in the wake of floods in Punjab.-PTI
96 per cent polling recorded by 3 PM, news agency PTI reported.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, arriving for the vice presidential election, said, “The BJP has tried to murder the soul of democracy, and this election has been forced on us as. They cut the tenure of an elected Vice President. Those who trust the Constitution will vote for B Sudershan Reddy because he has spent his life upholding the Constitution.”
Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived Tuesday at the Parliament House to cast his vote for the Vice Presidential election.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrived to cast their vote.
CPI Rajya Sabha MP P. Sandosh Kumar said, “It is a very close fight. In the 2017 election, the margin of victory was 207 votes. This time, the margin is expected to be less than 100. The candidature of Sudershan Reddy has brought together all political forces, making it a close contest. I hope a miracle happens and we receive more votes than expected.”
Voting began for the vice presidential poll on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the first to cast his vote.
The poll is witnessing a direct contest between ruling NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy, with the BJP-led alliance having a clear edge in the poll necessitated due to the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar.
In a post on X, Modi wrote: “Voted in the 2025 Vice President election.”
Opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy arrived in the Parliament to cast his vote Tuesday. “I have given my message. I have received love from the people and a positive response from civil society,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Parliament House Tuesday as voting for the post of Vice President is to begin shortly.
NDA nominee and Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan faces the Opposition INDIA bloc’s nominee and former Supreme Court Judge B Sudershan Reddy in this election.
The Opposition INDIA alliance named retired Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy its candidate for the September 9 Vice-Presidential election.
Justice Reddy, who retired in 2011, will be the first former Supreme Court judge to contest an election for the post of Vice-President. In 1979, former Chief Justice of India Mohammad Hidayatullah was elected the Vice-President by a consensus among different parties. He was briefly the acting President in 1984. In 1982, former SC judge Justice H R Khanna contested for the office of President and lost to Giani Zail Singh.
Justice Reddy, 79, was born on July 8, 1946, in the village of Akula Mylaram in Ranga Reddy district, on the outskirts of Hyderabad. He graduated from Osmania University in Hyderabad in 1971 and began practising law in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, serving as the government pleader, and was later elected president of the AP HC Advocates Association. In 1993, he was appointed a judge of that court and in 2005, became the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court. He was elevated to the Supreme Court in January 2007.
During his five-year tenure in the top court, Justice Reddy heard several constitutional cases. His most consequential judgment was the celebrated Nandini Sundar versus State of Chhattisgarh in 2011 in which the top court banned the Salwa Judum militia, directing that the practice of using tribal youth as Special Police Officers to counter the Naxal insurgency be brought to an end.
The Congress on Tuesday said that former vice president Jagdeep Dhankar has maintained an uncharacteristic silence for 50 days now and as the election for his successor gets underway, the nation continues to wait for him to speak out.
A direct contest is taking place between NDA’s C P Radhakrishnan and the Opposition’s B Sudershan Reddy for Tuesday’s vice presidential election, with the BJP-led alliance having a clear edge in the poll necessitated due to the sudden resignation of Dhankhar.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that for 50 days now, Dhankar has maintained an “uncharacteristic silence”.
“Today as the election for his successor gets underway, the nation continues to wait for him to speak out after his unprecedented and unexpected resignation as VP following the expression of his concerns on the deep neglect of farmers by the Modi government, on the dangers posed by ‘ahankar’ of those in power, etc.,” Ramesh said.
Ahead of the Vice Presidential election, NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan said, “It is going to be a big victory for Indian nationalism. We are all one, we will be one. We want India to become ‘Viksit Bharat’, and this victory will lead to that.” He is contesting against the Opposition INDI Alliance’s candidate, former Supreme Court Judge B Sudershan Reddy.
Radhakrishnan visited the Shree Ram Mandir in the Lodhi Road area to offer prayers.
Ahead of the vice presidential poll, the Congress on Tuesday attacked YSRCP president Jagan Mohan Reddy for supporting NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and accused him of betrayal for not standing with democratic forces.
In a post on X, Congress leader Manickam Tagore said the people of Andhra Pradesh will not forget his “betrayal” by choosing to support an RSS candidate out of “fear” of CBI cases over the interests of Andhra Pradesh.
“History won’t forget Mr @ysjagan’s betrayal. By supporting an RSS-backed candidate for Vice President, he has chosen fear of CBI cases over the interests of Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
“This is not about strategy. This is about surrender – surrendering to Modi – Babu’s pressure, instead of standing with democratic forces,” Tagore said.
The Congress leader said Jagan’s “compromise” today will be remembered as the day “he placed his personal survival above people’s mandate.” “Andhra deserved courage. He chose cowardice,” he alleged.
“When leaders bend before Delhi out of fear, they betray the people who trusted them. Jagan will be remembered not as a fighter, but as a politician who sold his spine to escape CBI courtrooms,” Tagore said.
Article 66 lays down the process of the election of the Vice-President.
It says the Vice-President “shall be elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot”.
The Electoral College consists of 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha (currently, five seats are vacant), 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha (currently, one seat is vacant), adding up to 788 members (currently, 782 members). In the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates.
“Preference can be marked in the international form of Indian numerals, in Roman form, or in the form in any recognised Indian languages… The elector can mark as many preferences as the number of candidates. While the marking of the first preference is compulsory for the ballot paper to be valid, other preferences are optional,” the Election Commission of India said in a press release issued on August 1.
Under the Constitution, the Vice-President “shall not be a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of the Legislature of any State”. If a member of any of these Houses is elected to the post, “he shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in that House on the date on which he enters upon his office as Vice-President”.
“Why are the Vice Presidential elections being held? Where is the former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar?…NDA has to work very hard to prove its majority in the elections, as the INDIA alliance’s Vice Presidential candidate, B. Sudershan Reddy, is very strong. I am hopeful that the results will be in our favour,” said Congress leader Sachin Pilot.
“We are prepared for the election… our candidate will be elected as Vice President. Our alliance is united, and we will cast our vote honestly. Certainly, we will vote our candidate to save the Constitution. It is the INDI alliance which has destroyed the Constitution,” said LJP (Ramvilas) MP Shambhavi Choudhary.
