Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated NDA nominee and Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan on being elected as the new Vice President of India.
“Congratulations to Shri C.P. Radhakrishnan Ji on being elected as the Vice President of India. I firmly believe that your sagacity as a leader who has risen from the grassroots of the society and profound knowledge about administration will help us in bringing out the best in our parliamentary democracy to serve the marginalised. I extend my warmest wishes to you for your journey as the custodian of the sanctity of the Upper House,” the minister posted on X after the results for the vice presidential election were declared on Tuesday .
Earlier, announcing the results, Rajya Sabha Secretary-General PC Mody said that Radhakrishnan polled 452 first preference votes, defeating Opposition nominee and former Supreme Court judge Justice B Sudarshan Reddy, who polled 300 first preference votes.
The election witnessed an unprecedented turnout with 752 members casting their votes out of the total 782 in the electoral college.
The Vice President is chosen by an electoral college comprising members of both Houses of Parliament – 233 elected and 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha (which presently has five vacancies) and 543 members of the Lok Sabha (one vacancy). This year’s contest carried symbolic weight as both candidates hailed from the South.
Radhakrishnan, a veteran leader from Tamil Nadu with a long-standing association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was pitched by the NDA as a grassroots leader with administrative experience.
Justice Reddy (retd), from Telangana, was projected by the Opposition as a distinguished legal mind who could strengthen constitutional values in the second-highest office of the land.
The election was conducted through a secret ballot, following the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote. Radhakrishnan’s victory adds to the NDA’s tally of key constitutional positions.
The election was necessitated by the sudden resignation of incumbent Jagdeep Dhankhar, whose term was to last till 2027, in July.