Who is B Sudershan Reddy, Opposition's candidate for Vice-Presidential poll

Former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy, who was named as INDIA bloc's candidate for Vice-Presidential election, presided over country's constitutional courts for over 16 years.

Born on July 8, 1946 to a farmer family in Akula Mylaram village of in the Rangareddy district of undivided Andhra Pradesh (presently in Telangana), B Sudershan Reddy completed his BA, LLB from Osmania University in Hyderabad in 1971 and got enrolled as an advocate at Hyderabad with the Bar Council of undivided Andhra Pradesh on December 27 the same year.

Advocacy Career

He practised in Writ and Civil matters in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and worked as a Government Pleader during 1988-90. He was Additional Standing Counsel for the Central Government for six months in 1990 and also worked as a Legal Adviser and Standing Counsel for Osmania University.

Career as Judge

Justice Reddy was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on May 2, 1995 and was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on December 5, 2005. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on January 12, 2007 and retired on July 8, 2011. He became the first Lokayukta of Goa in March 2013 but resigned in September 2013 citing personal reasons.

Important Verdicts

Known as an independent-minded judge with high integrity, Justice Reddy heard the Black Money Case in which he had ordered the setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe black money stashed abroad. He headed the Bench which in 2011 declared the Chhattisgarh Government’s use of armed tribal youth as “Special Police Officers” (Salwa Judum) unconstitutional. He was also a part of the Constitution Bench that declared natural gas a national asset under government control.

Justice Reddy is the joint candidate of the opposition parties for the Vice-Presidential polls, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge announced on Tuesday.

"All INDIA bloc parties has decided to have a common candidate, the decision has been taken unanimously. I am happy that all opposition parties have agreed to one name. It is a big achievement for democracy," Kharge said.