• Source:JND
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VP Election Result: NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan has been elected as the next Vice President of India after defeating the opposition's candidate Justice Sudershan Reddy by 152 votes. While Radhakrishnan got 452 out of the total 767 voter, Reddy could only manage to win 300 votes. Several prominent politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge congratulated Radhakrishnan on his victory. While the NDA candidate's victory was anticipated given clear majority the ruling alliance enjoys in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, some of the opposition MPs have also voted for Radhakrishnan as he got more votes than what the NDA expected.

Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody, while providing details, stated that a total of 15 out of 767 votes were declared invalid. He further stated that Radhakrishnan got 452 votes, 152 more than his rival candidate, further stating that the majority mark was 377. The speculations of cross voting started as Radhakrishnan was expected to get minimum 427 votes as per the current strength of both the houses. His tally was likely to improve after YSRCP had announced to support the NDA; however, he would have got 449 votes even after getting the votes of neutral and independent MPs.

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Justice Reddy was likely to get 315 votes as all the INDIA-Bloc members had extended their support to the former Supreme Court judge. Even if all the 15 invalid votes belonged to the opposition MPs, Reddy was expected to get more votes than the result. The final result concluded that there were opposition MPs who voted for the NDA candidate for several reasons, including him belonging to Tamil Nadu.

Justice Reddy, while accepting the verdict, stated that he will continue the ideological battle against the BJP. "Today, the MPs have rendered their verdict in the election for the office of the Vice President of India. I humbly accept this outcome with an abiding faith in the democratic processes of our great Republic...Though the result is not in my favour, the larger cause we have collectively sought to advance remains undiminished," Reddy stated.

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"The ideological battle continues with ever greater vigour...I wish the Vice President-elect Shri CP Radhakrishnan the very best as he embarks upon his tenure," he added.