The election to choose India’s next Vice President is currently underway, with members of both Houses of Parliament casting their votes. The ruling NDA has nominated Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan, while the Opposition has fielded former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy.

Polling is being conducted between 10 AM and 5 PM in Room No. F-101, Vasudha, Parliament House, and vote counting will commence at 6 PM, with results expected later in the evening, according to Rajya Sabha Secretary-General PC Mody, who is serving as the returning officer.

The electoral college for the Vice Presidential election consists of 788 members – 245 from the Rajya Sabha and 543 from the Lok Sabha, including 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha.

Currently, the strength of the electoral college stands at 781 due to six vacant Rajya Sabha seats and one vacant Lok Sabha seat, making the majority mark 391. The NDA commands 425 MPs, while the opposition has support from 324 MPs.

However, 14 MPs have chosen to abstain from voting. Among them, 11 Rajya Sabha members – seven from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led by Naveen Patnaik and four from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by K. Chandrashekar Rao – are abstaining. Additionally, three Lok Sabha MPs, including two independents and one Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) member, have decided not to participate.

Rajya Sabha MPs abstaining: Sasmit Patra (BJD), Debashish Samantaray (BJD), Subhashish Khuntia (BJD), Sulata Deo (BJD), Niranjan Bishi (BJD), Munna Khan (BJD), Manas Mangaraj (BJD), Vaddiraju Ravichandra (BRS), KR Suresh Reddy (BRS), D Damodar Rao (BRS), B Parthasaradhi Reddy (BRS).

Lok Sabha MPs abstaining: Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD), Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa (Independent), Amritpal Singh (Independent).

Three political parties have announced that they will boycott the poll, which was necessitated following the sudden resignation of former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.