NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan elected India's next Vice President

The ruling NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan on Tuesday won the 17th Vice President of India elections by bagging 452 of the 767 valid votes cast, with the opposition nominee B Sudarshan Reddy managing 300 votes.

Evidence of cross-voting was evident as Maharashtra Governor Radhakrishnan, an old RSS hand, won nearly 25 votes more than the NDA's calculation of 427 MPs.

Reddy on the other hand won 300 votes as against the opposition's calculation of 315 votes. MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha make up the electoral college for the election.

Declaring Radhakrishnan elected

Returning Officer for the poll PC Mody, Rajya Sabha secretary general, said there were a total of 781 electors today. A total of 767 votes were cast, representing a turnout of 98.2 per cent. One postal ballot paper was received, returned and cancelled. Out of 767 votes cast today, 752 were valid and 15 invalid.

CP Radhakrishnan won 452 and Sudershan Reddy 300. Radhakrishnan's winning margin is, however, slender at 152. His predecessor Jagdeep Dhankhar had won with the highest victory margin in the last six VP elections in India by bagging 528 votes against rival Margaret Alva's 182.

Dhankhar secured 72.8 per cent of the 725 valid votes cast in 2022. Radhakrishnan has secured 60 per cent today. In 2022, Dhankhar bettered the performance of M Venkaiah Naidu, who had won with a margin of 346 votes — the highest in the all VP polls since 1997.

However, the record of winning the VP poll with the highest ever margin is still held by KR Narayanan, who got 700 of the 701 valid votes in 1992 against rival Independent Kaka Joginder Singh.

NDA celebrations are underway at the residence of Food Minister Pralhad Joshi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join the celebrations soon upon returning from his visit to flood-hit areas of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.