The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said that Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan will be the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s candidate for the vice presidential election.

The BJP said that its coalition partners have extended their support for Radhakrishnan’s candidature.

BJP chief JP Nadda said that he hopes that Radhakrishnan will be elected unopposed.

“We will talk to the Opposition as well,” Nadda said at a press briefing. “We should also get their support so that together we can ensure an unopposed election for the post of vice president.”

Nadda added: “As we said earlier, we have been in touch with them and our senior leaders have contacted them earlier as well and even now, we will remain in touch with them and all our NDA colleagues have supported us.”

The Opposition INDIA bloc has not yet announced its candidate. The last date for filing nomination papers is August 21.

The vice president is also the Rajya Sabha chairperson.

The polls to elect the vice president are scheduled for September 9. The election result will be announced on the polling day itself.

The election was necessitated after Jagdeep Dhankar resigned from the post on July 21 “to prioritise health care and abide by medical advice”. He had become the vice president on August 11, 2022, and his five-year term would have concluded in 2027.

Radhakrishnan has been the Maharashtra governor since July 2024. He previously served as the governor of Jharkhand and Telangana, and the lieutenant governor of Puducherry.

He was a BJP Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore between 1998 and 2004.

Radhakrishnan was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the BJP. He was the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit chief between 2004 and 2007.

Vice presidential election

The vice president is chosen by the electoral college, which consists of elected as well as nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. Unlike in the president’s election, state legislators do not vote.

Voting happens in the Parliament building by secret ballot. MPs rank the candidates in order of their choice.

For the upcoming polls, the electoral college consists of 12 nominated members and 233 elected members of the Upper House, and 543 Lok Sabha MPs.

A day after Dhankhar resigned, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished him good health and said that the Rajya Sabha chairperson had “got many opportunities to serve our country in various capacities”.

Several Opposition leaders had raised questions about the timing of Dhankhar’s resignation. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that there were “far deeper reasons” behind Dhankhar’s decision.

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