India is ready to elect its new Vice President today, September 9, 2025, subsequent to the surprising resignation of former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. The election, demanded by Dhankhar’s exit on July 21 citing health reasons, has twisted into a high-stakes fight between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition INDIA bloc.
The contest features two prominent personalities: NDA’s C.P. Radhakrishnan and the INDIA bloc’s B. Sudershan Reddy. Radhakrishnan, a BJP candidate from Tamil Nadu, presently serves as the Governor of Maharashtra. His extensive political career and administrative practice and understanding are being emphasized by the NDA. His opponent on the other hand, B. Sudershan Reddy, previously served as a Supreme Court judge from Telangana, a choice the INDIA alliance is pushing as a winner of social justice and a symbol of their political battle against the ruling party.
In a substantial political makeover, regional parties Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) are not participating in the polls, by means of the vice-presidential election to strengthen their standing as significant opposition forces in their states. This strategic decision permits them to instantaneously highlight local worries and uphold a clear distance from both the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led INDIA blocs. BRS’s change, for instance, is mounted as a protest compared to the suspected failure of both national parties to report the Telangana farmers’ urea scarcity crisis.
C P Radhakrishnan, Maharashtra Governor and NDA nominee, has been appointed as the new Vice President of India after he got 452 first preference votes. The INDIA nominee Justice B Sudershan Reddy secured 300 first preference votes.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrives at the Parliament House to cast his vote for the Vice Presidential election.
On Vice-Presidential Election 2025, former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar says, “The conscience vote for which the opposition nominee, Sudershan Reddy, has appealed is obviously intended to cover up the shortfall in votes. Clearly, at this point, NDA nominee CP Radhakrishnan is expected to win, especially after some parties that were expected to support the opposition candidate have decided to abstain. Whatever may be the result of the election, it is necessary to ensure that constitutional functionaries receive bipartisan support in the discharge of their duties. I hope there will be no bitterness or acrimony because of these elections, and we must ensure that the highest traditions of democracy are observed in these elections.”
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh casts his vote for the Vice Presidential election at the Parliament House.
Union Minister and BJP national president JP Nadda to cast his vote for Vice Presidential election shortly, around 11.15 am.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reaches Parliament to cast vote.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves from the Parliament House after casting his vote for the Vice Presidential election.
BJP MP Deepak Prakash says, “We are winning the elections. NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan ji will become the Vice-President of the nation…The opposition has already lost the elections…”
BJP MP Anurag Thakur ahead of the Vice-Presidential elections says, “NDA’s candidate CP Radhakrishnan is a strong contender and will win with a huge majority. We are all working to ensure his victory. If Opposition members also want to support him because he represents the nation’s interest, they are welcome.” The stage is set for a direct contest between NDA’s C P Radhakrishnan and the Opposition’s B Sudershan Reddy for today’s vice presidential election.
Union Minister S.P. Singh Baghel says, “Both candidates and their supporters are ready. NDA has more count and Radhakrishnan will become the Vice-President. We will vote in his favour, and the NDA will win. We will congratulate him and he will run the proceedings of the House smoothly… Everything will be cleared by the evening…”
CP Radhakrishnan: NDA’s candidate CP Radhakrishnan for the vice presidential elections is currently serving as the Governor of Maharashtra. Before this, he had served as the Governor of Jharkhand with an additional charge as the Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
Having more than four decades of experience in politics in Tamil Nadu, Radhakrishnan wore several hats as Secretary of the BJP, party chief and the governor of several states.
Born on October 20, 1957, in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur, he served two terms as Lok Sabha MP from Coimbatore in 1998 and 1999. As per the information available, he chaired the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Textiles and was a member of the committees on Public Sector Undertakings and Finance.
B Sudershan Reddy: The INDIA bloc named B. Sudershan Reddy as the candidate for the vice presidential elections. He is a former judge. For his liberal judgments, which often showed a devotion to the rights of weaker sections in society, Reddy has been praised in the field of the judiciary.
Born on July 8, 1946, he became an Advocate enrolled in the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh. In his early career, Reddy mainly practised in the Andhra Pradesh High Court with civil and writ matters comprising most of his briefs.
He acted as Government Pleader from 1988 to 1990 and was appointed as Additional Standing Counsel to the central government temporarily in 1990.
Justice (retd.) Reddy’s judicial career began with his appointment as a permanent judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on 2nd May 1995.
He was later appointed Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on 5th December 2005. He used his experience and reputation to become a judge of the Supreme Court of India on 12th January 2007, retiring on 8th July 2011.
Counting of votes, if required, will be held in New Delhi under the supervision of the Returning Officer. On completion of counting, Return of Election (in Form 7 appended to the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974) will be signed and issued by the Returning Officer.
It has constantly been the Commission’s endeavor to make elections eco-friendly. The election to the office of Vice-President of India, being an indirect election, does not include election campaigning in a predictable manner of displaying banners, posters, etc. However, the Commission has directed the Returning Officer concerned to ensure a routine practice of eco-friendly and biodegradable material and remove the use of banned plastics or any other materials as per instructions of GoI.
Expected plan for the Vice Presidential election
• 10:00 AM: Voting begins.
• 11:30 AM: First key political figures cast their votes.
• 1:00 PM: Mid-day update on voter turnout.
• 3:00 PM: Senior leaders from both the NDA and INDIA alliance make statements.
• 5:00 PM: Voting concludes.
• 6:00 PM onwards: Live updates on vote counting and the announcement of the new Vice President.
The Assistant Returning Officers will support the Returning Officer for conducting poll and conveyance of ballot boxes and other significant election related materials from Election Commission to Parliament House and back to Election Commission, afterwards. The Commission also employs Senior Officers of the Government of India as its Spectators at the place of polling and counting.
It is also explained that political parties cannot raise any whip to their MPs in the matter of voting in the Vice-Presidential election. As per Section 18 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, the offence of ‘bribery’ or ‘undue influence’ as defined in Sections 170 and 171 of Bharatiya Nyay Samhita, by the returned candidate or any person with the accord of the returned candidate are amongst the grounds on which the election can be considered invalid by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in an election petition.
Each contesting candidate can authorize a representative to be present at the place of polling and at the place fixed for counting (counting hall). Authorization of representatives for this purpose shall be made by the candidate, in writing, at appropriate time.
As per Rule 40 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974, the Commission shall maintain a list of members of the Electoral College referred to in Article 66 with their addresses correct up to date, for the purpose of Vice-Presidential election. The list of members of the Electoral College maintained by the Commission for the Vice-Presidential Election, 2025, would be available for sale @ Rs 100/- per copy from the counter opened in the premises of Election Commission of India from the date of notification.
As per Rule 8 of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Rules, 1974, poll for the election will be taken in the Parliament House. The polling, if required, shall take place at Room No. F-101, Vasudha, First Floor, Parliament House, New Delhi.
The Election Commission, in consultation with the Central Government, has appointed the Secretary General, Rajya Sabha as the Returning Officer for the present election to the Office of the Vice-President of India. The Commission has also appointed two Assistant Returning Officers in Parliament House (Rajya Sabha) to assist the Returning Officer.
Article 66 (1) of the Constitution offers that the election shall be held in agreement with the arrangement of proportional depiction by means of the single movable vote and the voting at such election shall be by undisclosed poll.
In this system, the elector has to select against the names of the candidates. Preference can be placed in the international form of Indian numerals, in Roman form, or in the form in any recognized Indian languages. Preference has to be marked in data only and shall not be specified in words.
The voter can mark as many selections as the number of candidates. Despite the fact that the marking of the first selection is essential for the ballot paper to be effective, other selections are voluntary.
As per Article 66 of the Constitution of India, the Vice-President is selected by the members of the Electoral College comprising of the members of both Houses of Parliament in agreement with the arrangement of comparative representation by means of the single movable vote. For 2025, 17th Vice-Presidential Election, the Electoral College consists of:
(1) 233 elected members of Rajya Sabha (Presently 05 seats are vacant),
(2) 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, and
(3) 543 elected members of Lok Sabha (Presently 01 seat is vacant).
Electoral College includes of a total of 788 members (Presently, 782 members) of both Houses of Parliament, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Subsequently, all the electors are members of both Houses of Parliament, the value of vote of each Member of Parliament would be similar i.e. 1 (one).
Jagdeep Dhankhar, who was the 14th Vice President of India, was the third to resign before completing his tenure. Earlier, V.V. Giri in 1969 and R. Venkataraman in 1987 was also not been able to complete their tenure. The office has been held by many eminent individuals, counting the first Vice President, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and others who went on to become President of India, like Dr. Zakir Hussain.
The electoral college for the Vice-Presidential election comprises of members of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Out of an overall strength of 788 MPs, there are currently seven vacancies, carrying the total number of voters to 781. A candidate requires 391 votes to protect a simple majority. The numbers are deeply stacked in favor of the NDA, which, laterally with the backing of parties like the YSR Congress Party, commands about 436 votes. Although, the INDIA bloc has a projected count of around 324.
The voting will take place in the Parliament House from 10 am to 5 pm on September 09, 2025. The counting of votes will begin at 6 pm, with the results expected to be announced later in the evening.
