Vice-Presidential Poll Sees 96% Turnout, 13 Members Abstain

Voting for India’s 15th Vice-President concluded on Tuesday evening with a strikingly high participation rate of 96%, marking one of the most closely followed elections in recent years. The contest pits the ruling NDA’s nominee C.P. Radhakrishnan, a veteran BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, against the INDIA bloc’s candidate Justice (retd.) B. Sudershan Reddy, known for his strong constitutionalist stance during his tenure in the Supreme Court.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to cast his vote in the new Parliament building, accompanied by senior Union Ministers including Kiren Rijiju, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jitendra Singh and L. Murugan. Voting began at 10 a.m. and continued until 5 p.m., with counting commencing an hour later. Results are expected late in the evening.

Despite the brisk polling, 13 MPs abstained, notably from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), along with Independent MP Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa. Among the abstaining members were prominent BJD leaders Sasmit Patra and Muzibulla Khan, SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur, and BRS MPs including K.R. Suresh Reddy. Their decision, however, is not expected to significantly alter the arithmetic, with the NDA seen to have the edge.

The Opposition, meanwhile, projected a united front. Congress MP Jairam Ramesh announced that all 315 INDIA bloc MPs had cast their votes, terming it an “unprecedented 100% turnout.” Senior leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Sharad Pawar were among those who voted. Congress’s Randeep Surjewala described the election as a fight “to save the Parliament’s decorum, traditions, and constitutional values.”

Outside the capital, scenes of celebration unfolded in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, the hometown of Radhakrishnan, where locals set up food stalls, offered prayers, and burst crackers in anticipation of his victory. The NDA’s confidence was echoed in Parliament, with leaders like Chirag Paswan asserting that even some Opposition MPs were likely to vote “with their conscience” for Radhakrishnan.

For the Opposition, the election is being framed as a test of ideological strength rather than numbers. NCP-SCP leader Supriya Sule argued that the Vice-President must be an individual who “upholds national interest,” while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav dismissed the BJP as a “use-and-throw party,” predicting discontent within the NDA ranks.

The backdrop of this contest is the sudden resignation of Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who stepped down citing health concerns. The Opposition, however, has linked his silence to his past criticisms of the government’s treatment of farmers and concentration of power, a charge strongly denied by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.