Vice Presidential Election 2025: The INDIA Bloc on Tuesday announced that former Supreme Court Judge, Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, who hails from Andhra Pradesh (Telugu), will be its candidate for the upcoming Vice Presidential Election, scheduled to take place on September 9. Announcing the decision of the INDIA Bloc, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge termed the Vice Presidential poll an "ideological fight" and said that all opposition parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which exited the INDIA bloc, have extended their support to Justice B Sudershan Reddy.

"All Opposition parties have decided to have a common candidate; the decision has been taken unanimously. I am happy that all opposition parties have agreed on one name. It is a big achievement for democracy. Whenever democracy and the Constitution are under attack, Opposition parties unite to fight against it. So we have decided to field a good candidate in this election," Mallikarjun Kharge said.

Vice Presidential Election: Litmus Test For Alliance Unity

By fielding a candidate hailing from a southern state, the Opposition has turned this Vice Presidential Election into not just a South vs South fight, but a litmus test for alliance unity. The move also seems to be a counter to NDA's strategy of fielding a Tamil person, CP Radhakrishnan, who is a seasoned BJP leader from the state and currently serving as Maharashtra Governor, as its Vice Presidential candidate.

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The NDA's strategy behind choosing CP Radhakrishnan was evident in the fact that the Tamil pride is an emotive issue in the southern state, and the BJP wanted the DMK, a key INDIA bloc partner, to back the NDA pick. If it does not, then the saffron brigade can build its Tamil Nadu election campaign by accusing the DMK of ignoring a Tamil-origin person for the ambitions of the INDIA bloc.

However, the Opposition has countered this strategy by fielding an eminent Andhra-Telugu face as its candidate, making it difficult for the BJP allies in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana -- the TDP and Jana Sena -- to not back Reddy. Both parties now face uncomfortable questions over why they would stand with the BJP’s Tamil Nadu candidate instead of backing a respected jurist from their own state. In essence, the INDIA bloc forced the NDA allies into the same kind of state-versus-alliance bind that the BJP had initially tried to impose on the DMK.

INDIA Bloc Aims To "Kill Two Birds With One Stone"

INDIA bloc's decision to pick B Sudershan Reddy might work on multiple levels. First, the Opposition aims to create new complications for the BJP's southern partners, TDP and Jana Sena. Second, Reddy’s distinguished legal career and apolitical stature allowed the opposition to position him as a candidate above partisan loyalties. This framing was crucial to strengthen the bloc’s ideological pitch of "saving democracy and the Constitution".

Beyond regional politics, the choice also reflects a broader strategy. For the INDIA bloc, fielding an eminent non-political figure underscores its effort to keep the flock together, given the fissures between the bloc in the last Vice Presidential Election. In 2022, when Jagdeep Dhankhar was elected to the post, the INDIA bloc suffered a setback as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) had abstained from voting.

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The TMC, at that time, said that they were not included in meetings to decide the Opposition's candidate for the Vice Presidential Election and decided to abstain from voting. But this time, the opposition ensured that no rift hampers its prospects for the VP Polls, and took recommendations from all its partners, including the TMC.