The Vice Presidential election on Tuesday ended in a decisive win for the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) candidate CP Radhakrishnan, but the outcome was overshadowed by allegations of cross-voting and invalid ballots.
Radhakrishnan, who secured 452 votes, defeated the opposition INDIA bloc nominee B Sudhershan Reddy by 152 votes. Of the 781 MPs eligible to vote, 767 cast their ballots, of which 752 were declared valid.
Opposition leaders initially claimed that all 315 of their MPs had turned up to vote, but the final count told a different story. Reddy managed only 300 votes, sparking speculation that at least 15 members from the bloc either crossed party lines or intentionally invalidated their ballots.
CLAIMS AND COUNTERCLAIMS
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh described the opposition’s 40 per cent vote share as a “moral victory,” noting it was nearly 14 per cent higher than in 2022, when NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar defeated Margaret Alva.
The ruling BJP poked holes in Ramesh’s claim. IT Cell in-charge Amit Malviya wrote on X, “All 315 voted but for whom is the real question! Despite all the noise, the INDIA candidate managed only 300 votes, 15 short of what they claimed.”
BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal claimed that 14 opposition MPs voted for the NDA candidate, while another 15 deliberately cast invalid votes.
“Rahul Gandhi’s antar atma ki awaaz did not work. It worked in favour of the NDA, and his false narrative has fallen flat,” he said.
Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mahaske also claimed some opposition MPs from Maharashtra had switched sides.
On the other hand, Congress MP Nasir Hussain pointed out that of the invalid votes, 12 came from the opposition camp and 3 from the NDA, raising the possibility that the INDIA bloc’s actual cross-vote count could be as high as 17.
The high stakes of the Vice-Presidential contest were evident from the turnout. Barring the parties that abstained, all eligible MPs participated in the poll, which saw orderly queues and full attendance on both sides.
Radhakrishnan’s victory consolidates the NDA’s hold over the second-highest constitutional office after the presidency.
