VP election: Direct contest set between NDA and Opposition candidates

With neither candidate withdrawing their nomination the vicepresidential election on September 9 will see a direct contest between ruling NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan ReddyBoth contenders hail from southern India with Radhakrishnan from Tamil Nadu and Reddy from TelanganaThe opposition has termed the election an ideological battle though the numbers favour the ruling National Democratic Alliance NDA according to news agency PTIFollowing the last date for withdrawals on Monday both Buchireddy Sudershan Reddy and C P Radhakrishnan remain in the frayRajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody who is the returning officer for the vicepresidential election in a statement said that the polling for the VicePresidential Election 2025 will take place on Tuesday September 9 2025 in Room No F101 Vasudha Parliament House in New DelhiThe polling will commence at 10 am and close at 5 pm on September 9The electoral college for election to the Office of the VicePresident of India consists of the Members of both Houses of Parliament The nominated Members of Rajya Sabha are also eligible to be included in the Electoral College and therefore are entitled to participate in the election The polling arrangements in Parliament House are being made by PC Mody the Returning Officer for the VicePresidential Election 2025 and SecretaryGeneral Rajya Sabha the statement from the Rajya Sabha secretariat said as per the news agency PTIThe counting of votes will commence at 6 PM on the same day and the result will be declared immediately thereafter it saidWhile Radhakrishnan is a Bharatiya Janata Party BJP veteran from Tamil Nadu and the governor of Maharashtra currently Reddy is a former Supreme Court judge who hails from TelanganaRadhakrishnan 67 served as a twoterm member of the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore during the tenure of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and later went on to lead the saffron party in Tamil NaduReddy 79 who retired from the apex court in July 2011 is a veteran jurist known for several landmark judgments criticising the then Union government for showing slackness in probing blackmoney cases He had also declared Salwa Judum appointed by the Chhattisgarh government as unconstitutionalAs an apex court judge Reddy ordered the formation of a special investigation team to take all steps for bringing back unaccounted monies unlawfully kept in bank accounts abroadRetrieving black money deposited in foreign banks was a key electoral plank of the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha electionAccording to a statement from the Rajya Sabha secretary general the process of the vicepresidential election commenced on August 7 with the issuance of a notificationFor the 17th vicepresidential election slated to be held on September 9 the electoral college consists of 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha five seats are currently vacant 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha one seat is currently vacantThe electoral college comprises a total of 788 members 782 presently of both houses of Parliament One Rajya Sabha member Shibu Soren has since diedThe NDA is projecting Radhakrishnan as an untainted leader with rich political and administrative experience for the vice presidents office and maintaining that these qualities would also prove to be useful as the chairman of the Rajya SabhaRadhakrishnan was the chairman of the All India Coir Board from 2016 to 2020 a period when coir exports witnessed a significant jumpThe Congressled INDIA bloc is projecting Reddy as a consistent and courageous champion of social economic and political justice Reddy has had a long and eminent legal career including as a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court the chief justice of the Gauhati High Court and a judge of the Supreme Court He also led the committee that undertook the caste survey in TelanganaWith PTI inputs