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How B Sudershan Reddy, ex-judge who lost to NDA's CP Radhakrishnan, helped show Opposition unity
Sudershan Reddy served as an SC judge and is best remembered for his landmark judgment which declared a militia unconstitutional.
B Sudershan Reddy, former Supreme Court judge and the vice presidential election candidate of the Opposition faction INDIA bloc, lost the poll to National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) nominee CP Radhakrishnan on Tuesday, September 9.
Both B Sudershan Reddy and CP Radhakrishnan hail from South India, with the former from Telangana and the latter from Tamil Nadu.
Voting for the vice president election, which the Opposition described as an ideological battle, began at 10 am and concluded at 5 pm on Tuesday. The counting of votes commenced at 6 pm.
Reddy got 300 votes as against Radhakrishnan's 542.
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Who is B Sudershan Reddy?
Born on July 8, 1946, B Sudershan Reddy is a jurist who served as a Supreme Court judge from 2007 to 2011 and is best remembered for his landmark judgment, from the last year of his tenure, which declared the controversial Salwa Judum militia in Chhattisgarh as unconstitutional. The militia was later disbanded.
As a Supreme Court judge, Sudershan Reddy ordered the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to take all steps for bringing back unaccounted monies unlawfully kept in bank accounts overseas.
Sudershan Reddy's journey as a jurist began with his enrollment as advocate at Hyderabad with the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh on December 27, 1971, according to his bio on sci.gov.in.
Before serving as a Supreme Court judge, Sudershan Reddy has practiced in Writ and Civil matters in the Andhra Pradesh high court, has worked as government pleader in the HC during from 1988 to 1990.
Sudershan Reddy also worked as additional standing counsel for the central government for six months in 1990.
His other stints include legal adviser and standing counsel for Osmania University; appointment as permanent judge of the Andhra Pradesh high court in 1995, followed by appointment as chief justice of the Gauhati High Court in 2005 before going to the Supreme Court.
Sudershan Reddy was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court on January 12, 2007.
He also led the committee that undertook the caste survey in Telangana.
For the 17th vice-presidential election, which was necessitated by the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar, the electoral college consisted of all elected and nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. The electoral college thus comprises a total of 788 members (presently 781 due to vacancies).
The Congress-led opposition promoted Sudershan Reddy for the vice president election as a consistent and courageous champion of social, economic and political justice.
Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned as vice president of India on July 21, citing health reasons.
