It is a CP Radhakrishnan-versus-B Sudershan Reddy battle today for the key post of vice president of India, election for which are taking place nearly two months after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned citing health reasons.
Maharashtra governor CP Radhakrishnan is ruling National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) vice-presidential election candidate while former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy has been picked by the INDIA bloc of opposition for the race, in which numbers favour Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA. Follow vice-presidential election live updates
The polling began at 10 am, and the counting began after 6 pm.
Vice president election: Conduct rules
Voting for the vice-presidential election is done under a secret ballot system by an electoral college that comprises all members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
The electoral college for the vice presidential election is made up of a total of 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 current effective strength of the electoral college is 781, with six seats vacant in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha.
Who did not vote
{{/usCountry}}The current effective strength of the electoral college is 781, with six seats vacant in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha.
Who did not vote
{{/usCountry}}Three parties – Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and K Chandrasekhara Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) – have decided to stay away from the election, however, the numbers still favour the NDA even though the margin of victory is likely to be small. The BJD has seven MPs, the BRS four and SAD one.
Independent MPs Amritpal Singh and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa have also decided to boycott the vice-presidential election.
The NDA, excluding the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), has 425 MPs supporting Radhakrishnan while 324 Opposition MPs are supporting Reddy.
Going by the current abstention calls, 14 lawmakers are set to not vote in the vice-presidential election. Hence, any candidate who gets at least 384 votes will be declared winner.
This is the first time polling for the vice-presidential election will be held at Vasudha hall in the new Parliament building.
“The polling will take place from 10 am and close at 5 pm on September 9 and the result will be declared on Tuesday,” the Rajya Sabha Secretariat announced.