India will elect its 14th Vice President today in a high-drama election between the ruling NDA and opposition INDIA coalition. Jagdeep Dhankhar quitted the position on July 21 citing health grounds. Voting will start this morning at 10 am within Parliament House, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi casting his vote first before leaving to visit flood-affected Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Polling will go on till 5 pm, counting will start an hour later, and by evening the nation will learn who will replace Dhankhar as Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairperson.
The NDA has put forward its candidate CP Radhakrishnan. Currently the Governor of Maharashtra, Radhakrishnan is an experienced BJP leader with more than four decades of political career befitting his date of birth of 20 October 1957, in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu. He soon started politics as an RSS swayamsevak before he joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1974. Thereafter he became Tamil Nadu BJP state secretary in 1996, and then the BJP state president from 2004 to 2007, Two, he was a Member of the Lok Sabha twice from Coimbatore, in 1998 and 1999, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Textiles, Finance and Public Sector Undertakings Committees.
CP Radhakrishnan: A devoted party follower
Renowned for organising a 93-day, 19,000-kilometer Rath Yatra with an emphasis on river-linking, anti-terrorism, and social harmony, Radhakrishnan established himself as a devoted party organizer and administrator. The nomination is an expression of the NDA’s confidence in his long-time political allegiance, albeit the BJP’s continued limited hopes in Tamil Nadu because of the Dravidian parties’ hold on the state, such as the DMK and AIADMK.
On the opposite side, the INDIA alliance has put up Justice B Sudershan Reddy, a retired Supreme Court judge with an impeccable track record of protecting constitutional values as well as social justice. Born on July 8, 1946, in Akula Mylaram village of Ranga Reddy district in Andhra Pradesh, Reddy belonged to an agricultural family and achieved success through industry and studies. He graduated in law from Osmania University in 1971 and went on to become a prominent practising lawyer in civil and constitutional law matters.
Sudershan Reddy’s professional achievements
Among some of his achievements are serving as president of the Advocates Association of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, serving as a government pleader, and lastly being elevated as a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 1993. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court in 2005 preceding his appointment to the Supreme Court, where he made a name for being independent, a creative thinker, and an advocate for constitutional rights his whole life. In August 2025, the INDIA alliance made it official with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge calling it an “ideological battle” against the current NDA regime.
Today’s poll is not merely a matter of plug-and-play replacement for the vacancy in the country’s second-highest constitutional office but also about gauging the solidity and cohesion of political alliances. For the NDA, a win would further cement its grip, whereas for the INDIA alliance, the election is a chance to display strength and reaffirm its struggle for democratic causes. The nation will either get CP Radhakrishnan or Justice B Sudershan Reddy into the Vice President’s chair by tonight to preside over the Rajya Sabha proceedings.
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Sofia Babu Chacko is a journalist with over five years of experience covering Indian politics, crime, human rights, gender issues, and stories about marginalized communities. She believes that every voice matters, and journalism has a vital role to play in amplifying those voices. Sofia is committed to creating impact and shedding light on stories that truly matter. Beyond her work in the newsroom, she is also a music enthusiast who enjoys singing.
