PM Modi casts his vote in the Vice-Presidential elections at Parliament premises
PM Modi cast the first vote as polling opened for the high-stakes
Vice-Presidential election on Tuesday 9 September at 10 am
Voting will continue until 5 pm, with counting scheduled to begin at 6 pm.
The NDA’s candidate,
C P Radhakrishnan, is contesting against Justice (Retd) B Sudershan Reddy, the nominee of the Congress-led INDIA bloc.
The contest comes followingJagdeep Dhankhar’s unexpected resignation as vice-president on July 21, citing health reasons.
PM Modi accompanied by Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jitendra Singh and L Murugan, cast his vote in the polling booth set up in Room No. 101 Vasudha in Parliament building.
Taking to his X PMModi posted “Voted in the 2025 Vice President election,” before embarking on a visit to flood-hit states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
Among the early voters were Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Meghwal, Pralhad Joshi, Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Harivansh, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Nasser Hussain.
The 92-year-old Gowda arrived at the polling booth in a wheel chair.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were seen walking hand in hand to the polling booth.
Reportedly, the electoral college’s total strength stands at 781 MPs, 542 from the Lok Sabha and 238 from the Rajya Sabha, with one Lok Sabha and six Rajya Sabha seats currently vacant. The majority mark is 391.
NDA has the backing of 425 MPs, including support from the YSR Congress Party (11 MPs), which is not formally part of the NDA. The Opposition (INDIA bloc) has the support of 324 MPs, BJD (7 MPs) and BRS (4 MPs) have determined to distance from voting.
It’s learned that SAD
(1 MP) has announced a boycott of the election. Three of the seven independent MPs in the Lok Sabha haven’t disclosed their voting preference.
RLP MP Hanuman Beniwal and Azad Samaj Party MP Chandrashekhar Azad met the INDIA bloc’s candidate, fueling speculation that they may vote for the Opposition.
Both NDA and Congress-led opposition held separate meetings with their respective MPs on poll eve to sensitise them about the election process and also held mock polls.
As part of its meticulous election-day coordination, NDA MPs, including nominated members, began arriving early at the residences of their assigned group ministers, who have been appointed to ensure that all MPs vote correctly and no ballots are rendered invalid.
The NDA has deployed six Union Ministers to oversee voting efforts, Kiren Rijiju – Northeas, Prahlad Joshi – Southern states, Piyush Goyal – Uttar Pradesh, Nityanand Rai – Bihar. Other ministers include supervising MPs from their respective regions.
In a bid to avoid any invalid votes, the NDA has conducted comprehensive training sessions for its MPs on how to correctly mark the ballot papers. The alliance is confident that not a single vote will be wasted.
Arrangements have been made to ensure the counting process is completed swiftly, with results expected amid
7 -7.30 pm
News Edit KV Raman
