NDA's Radhakrishnan Wins VP Race

Gets 452 votes against Opposition nominee B Sudershan Reddy's 300 to become 15th Vice President

- Archis Mohan & PTI

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee C P Radhakrishnan won the vice presidential election, the polling and counting for which took place on Tuesday.

Radhakrishnan received 452 votes against Opposition nominee B Sudershan Reddy's 300. He will be the country's 15th Vice President (VP) after he takes the oath of office.

Of the 781 Members of Parliament (MPs), 767 cast their votes in the vice presidential polls. Of these, 752 were valid and 15 were invalid, said P C Mody, secretary general of the Rajya Sabha and returning officer for the polls.

The electoral college for the vice presidential election comprises 788 members — 245 from the Rajya Sabha and 543 from the Lok Sabha. The 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha are also eligible to vote in the election.

The present strength of the electoral college is 781 as six seats are vacant in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha.

Radhakrishnan (67) hails from Tamil Nadu, and is the third leader from the state to be elected to the post of India's Vice President (after Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and R Venkataraman, India's first and seventh Vice Presidents, respectively). Radhakrishnan succeeds Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resigned as Vice President on July 21.