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NDA announced Veep candidate: Ruling or opposition, who has 'the edge' in Vice President polls ?

PTC News | August 18, 2025 9:39 PM CST

PTC News Desk: The election for the Vice President is scheduled to take place on September 9 with the BJP led NDA government announcing CP Radhakrishnan as its candidate. The post fell vacant after Jagdeep Dhankhar's sudden resignation on July21, first day of the Parliament Monsoon Session, citing health concerns.

In the case of a President’s resignation, the Vice President is sworn-in as the acting President. However, there is no such provision of nominating an acting vice president in the event of the incumbent's exit mid-term.

Since the Vice President is also the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, those duties are automatically vested in the deputy chairman until a new V-P is elected. In the interim, Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh is presiding over the Upper House

How the numbers add up ?

The Vice President of India, who is also ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha is elected by both the members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated members of the Upper House. The numeric indicates that the NDA has a clear advantage over opposition.

Currently, the combined strength of both the houses is 786 and a candidate requires 394 votes to win in total. The NDA is well placed with 293 MPs in the lower House and 120 MPs in the upper House, including support from the nominated members.

The numbers give the ruling alliance a comfortable majority with an estimated total of 422 votes, far above the required minimum votes.

The election is held by proportional representation through a single transferable vote and secret ballot, according to Article 66(1).