Vice president election: 96 per cent turnout till 3 pm

Brisk voting was witnessed on Tuesday to elect the new vice president with 96 per cent of MPs casting their ballot till 3 pm including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was the first to exercise his franchise in the contest between NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy reported news agency PTIPM Modi accompanied by Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju Arjun Ram Meghwal Jitendra Singh and L Murugan cast his vote in the polling booth in Room No 101 Vasudha in the Parliament building reported PTIMembers of both Houses of Parliament are eligible to cast their votes in the Parliament House between 10 am and 5 pm Counting votes will begin at 6 pm and the results will be announced late eveningNearly 96 per cent polling was completed till 3 PM a top official told PTIMPs in large numbers queued up in the new Parliament building since morningVoted in the 2025 Vice President election PM Modi said in a post on X before embarking on a visit to floodhit states of Himachal Pradesh and PunjabAmong the early voters were Union Ministers Rajnath Singh Amit Shah Meghwal and Pralhad Joshi Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Harivansh former prime minister H D Deve Gowda Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi former Congress president Sonia Gandhi SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav and Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Nasser HussainThe 92yearold Gowda arrived at the polling booth in a wheelchair Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were seen walking hand in hand to the polling boothThe poll is witnessing a direct contest between Radhakrishnan and Reddy with the ruling NDA having a clear edge in the poll necessitated by the sudden resignation of Jagdeep DhankharI am only trying to awaken the conscience of the people This is a fight for the Constitution it will continue I thank the people for the love I got and the response of the civil society Reddy the joint opposition candidate for the vice presidential poll said reported PTIUnion Ministers Rijiju and Ram Mohan Naidu along with Shiv Sena Lok Sabha member Shrikant Shinde have been appointed as official election agents of the ruling NDA for the election processWe are not just assured but confident of victory Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told reporters as the polling got underway reported PTIMembers of Parliament are not bound by party whips to vote in the vice presidential election which takes place under a secret ballot systemSpeaker Om Birla and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar cast their vote after 2 PMProminent among others who exercised their franchise were TMCs Saugata Roy Sudip Bandyopadhyay Shatrughan Sinha and Abhishek Banerjee besides Harbhajan Singh AAP and Congress leaders Kumari Selja and Priyanka Gandhi VadraLok Sabha MP from Jammu and Kashmirs Baramulla Engineer Rashid arrived in police custody to vote following permission from a courtRashid 58 has been lodged in Tihar jail since 2019 after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency NIA under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in a 2017 terror funding case reported PTIThe electoral college for the vice presidential election comprises a total of 788 members 245 from the Rajya Sabha and 543 from the Lok Sabha The 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha are also eligible to vote in the electionThe present strength of the electoral college is 781 as six seats are vacant in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha This puts the majority mark at 391 The NDA has 425 MPs while the opposition camp has the backing of 324With inputs from PTI