New Delhi: NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan has been elected the 15th Vice President. He defeated B Sudarshan Reddy of the opposition India Block by 152 votes. According to the information, he got a total of 452 votes, while B Sudarshan Reddy could get only 300 votes. Earlier, the election was concluded on Tuesday. During this, 98.2 percent voting took place.
Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Modi said, “NDA candidate and Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan got 452 first preference votes. He has been elected Vice President of India… Opposition’s Vice Presidential candidate Justice Sudarshan Reddy got 300 first preference votes.” 98.2 percent voting took place
PC Modi said that out of 788 eligible MPs, 767 exercised their franchise in the Vice Presidential election, which resulted in 98.2 percent voting. In this, 752 votes were valid and 15 were invalid. Let us tell you that the counting of votes for the Vice Presidential election started at 6 pm. This process was done in the new Parliament House under the supervision of Rajya Sabha Secretary General and Returning Officer PC Modi.
13 MPs did not participate in the voting
A total of 13 MPs did not participate in the voting in the Vice Presidential election. This list includes seven from Biju Janata Dal, four from Bharat Rashtra Samiti, one from Shiromani Akali Dal and one independent MP. After the victory of the NDA candidate, celebrations started outside the residence of Union Minister Prahlad Joshi.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and other top leaders cast their votes in the Vice Presidential election.
PM Modi congratulated
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated CP Radhakrishnan on his victory in the 2025 Vice Presidential election. Prime Minister Modi tweeted, “His life has always been dedicated to serving the society, empowering the poor and the marginalized. I am confident that he will be an excellent Vice President, who will strengthen our constitutional values and advance parliamentary dialogue.” At the same time, President Draupadi Murmu said, “Your decades of rich experience in public life will contribute significantly to the progress of the nation. I wish you a successful and impressive tenure.” What did Mallikarjun Kharge say? Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge congratulated CP Radhakrishnan on winning the 2025 Vice Presidential election. He said, “Congratulations to CP Radhakrishnan on winning the Vice Presidential election. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the united opposition’s joint candidate B. Sudarshan Reddy Garu for his enthusiastic and principled struggle.” He said, “This was more than an election, it was a battle of ideology, which confirmed that governments with authoritarian tendencies must be curbed to protect our Constitution and democracy. We hope that the newly elected Vice President will maintain the highest values of parliamentary traditions, ensure equal space and respect for the opposition, and will not succumb to pressure from the ruling party…”Ideological battle will continue
After his defeat, India Block candidate B Sudarshan Reddy congratulated CP Radhakrishnan on being elected the 15th Vice President of India. In a statement after the results of the Vice Presidential election, Reddy said that despite the results not being in his favor, he will continue his ideological battle even more vigorously.
He said, “Although the result is not in my favor, the broad objective that we wanted to pursue collectively has not diminished. The ideological struggle continues even more vigorously. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the leaders of the opposition parties, who made me their joint candidate. Our democracy is strengthened not only by victory, but by the spirit of dialogue, disagreement and participation.”
Reddy further said that as a citizen I am committed to upholding the ideals of equality, fraternity and liberty that bind us together. May our Constitution continue to guide our national life. I wish the newly elected Vice President CP Radhakrishnan all the best for the start of his term.
Jagdeep Dhankhar had resigned due to health reasons
Let us tell you that Jagdeep Dhankhar had resigned from his post citing health reasons. Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, who was serving as the 24th Governor of Maharashtra till July 31, 2024 before being announced as the NDA’s Vice Presidential candidate.
Earlier, he served as the Governor of Jharkhand from February 2023 to July 2024. He also held the additional charge of Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry between March and July 2024.
Former Governor of Telangana
Radhakrishnan has earlier served as the Governor of Jharkhand, Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry. Radhakrishnan, a two-time MP from Coimbatore, was born on October 20, 1957 in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. This veteran BJP leader of Tamil Nadu has a graduation degree in Business Administration.
Joined RSS
He became a member of the state committee of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of BJP, in 1974. Before Jana Sangh, he had joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In 1996, Radhakrishnan was appointed BJP Tamil Nadu secretary, after which he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore in 1998 and re-elected in 1999.
During his tenure as MP, he served as chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee and was also a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and the Finance Advisory Committee. Radhakrishnan was also a member of the Parliamentary Special Committee probing the stock exchange scam.
Led ‘Rath Yatra’
From 2004 to 2007, Radhakrishnan was the state president of Tamil Nadu and also led the 93-day, 19,000-km ‘Rath Yatra’. The main agenda of the Rath Yatra was to highlight their demands like linking of all Indian rivers, eradication of terrorism, implementation of Uniform Civil Code, eradication of untouchability and tackling the drug menace.
