New Delhi — NDA nominee and Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan was on Tuesday elected as the 15th Vice President of India, securing a decisive win over opposition INDIA bloc’s candidate, former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy.
Radhakrishnan, an OBC leader from the Goundar-Kongu Vellalar community in Tamil Nadu, polled 452 votes against Reddy’s 300. The announcement came shortly after voting concluded, with Returning Officer PC Mody formally declaring Radhakrishnan the winner and stating that the result would be sent to the Election Commission.
The NDA had announced Radhakrishnan’s candidature on August 17. His opponent, Sudershan Reddy, also hails from southern India and served as a judge of the Supreme Court before entering the political fray for this election.
Voting began at 10 a.m. and continued until 5 p.m., with members of both Houses of Parliament — the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha — making up the electoral college of 781 MPs. According to the Congress, 315 opposition MPs turned up to vote.
With this victory, Radhakrishnan succeeds Jagdeep Dhankhar in the constitutional post, becoming the second highest-ranking constitutional authority after the President of India.
