Vice Presidential Election 2025: In a high-stake battle, the stage is all set for Vice Presidential polls slated for today with NDA expressing confidence of victory of its candidate CP Radhakrishnan and opposition parties rallying in support for their candidate Justice B Sudershan Reddy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the candidature of CP Radhakrishnan has generated immense enthusiasm all across and people believe he will be an excellent Vice President.
INDIA bloc held a mock drill to reduce the risk of invalid ballots. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai said all important issues were considered for the Vice Presidential election. A BJP leader said that the NDA candidate is expected to garner at least 427 votes. Congress leaders expressed confidence that the opposition candidate will get over 324 votes.
Vice President Elections: A Look at History
The Vice Presidents post has gone through four unopposed elections. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was elected unopposed in 1952 and 1957, Mohammad Hidayatullah in 1979, and Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1987.
In 1992, Dr. K. R. Narayanan received 700 votes, while his opponent, K. A. Singh (Bharatiya Paksha), managed to secure only one vote. Since then, no candidate has been elected unopposed. Dr KR Narayanan’s victory margin was the biggest in the history.
So far, only two womenRajmani Amrit Kaur and Margaret Alvahave contested for the Vice Presidents post, but neither could succeed in becoming the countrys Vice President.
Increasing Victory Margin
2002: Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (NDA) defeated Sushil Kumar Shinde (Congress) by 149 votes.
2007: Hamid Ansari (UPA) defeated Najma Heptulla (NDA) by 233 votes.
2012: Hamid Ansari was re-elected, defeating Jaswant Singh by 252 votes.
2017: NDAs Venkaiah Naidu defeated Gopal Krishna Gandhi by 272 votes.
2022: NDAs Jagdeep Dhankhar defeated opposition candidate Margaret Alva by 346 votes.
Poll Maths: Majority Mark
There are a total of 781 MPs in both Houses with majority mark being 391. However, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) have decided to abstain, bringing down the electorate to 770 MPs, making the majority mark 386.
C. P. Radhakrishnan: The NDA currently has 439 votes in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Additionally, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) with 8 MPs has announced its support. The votes of BJD (7), BSP (4), Akali Dal (1), JDS (1), BTP (1), and 3 Independents are not yet decided.
Sudhakar Reddy: The INDIA alliance currently has 324 votes in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The AAP and MDMK have also announced their support.
Full Schedule: Voting And Result Time
Voting will take place from 10 AM to 5 PM in Parliament. Counting of votes will begin at 6 PM, and results will be announced immediately.
Every MP must mark their first preference on the ballot with a special pen. Failure to do so will render the vote invalid. Each vote will carry equal value. In 2017, 11 votes were invalid, and in 2022, 15 votes were invalid.