Kochi: BJP led NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan, 67, was elected as 15th Vice President with 452 votes, media reports said.
His rival retired Supreme Court Justice B Sudershan Reddy, 79 of Congress-led INDIA bloc got 300 votes.
There were 781 electors out of which 767 cast votes. Fifteen votes were invalid.
Justice retired from the Supreme Court in July 2011.
Voting began at 10 am on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi casting the first ballot.
Members of Parliament are not bound by party whips in the vice-presidential election, which is conducted through a secret ballot system.
The electoral college includes 788 members—245 from the Rajya Sabha and 543 from the Lok Sabha.
With six vacant Rajya Sabha seats and one vacant Lok Sabha seat, the current strength stands at 781 MPs, setting the majority mark at 391.
The NDA has 425 MPs, while the opposition camp has 324.
Among parties outside these blocs, the YSR Congress Party, with 11 MPs, has decided to support the NDA nominee, while the BRS and BJD will abstain.
Radhakrishnan is from Tamil Nadu and the current Governor of Maharashtra.
Radhakrishnan has served two terms as a Lok Sabha member from Coimbatore during Prime Minister A B Vajpayee’s tenure and later led the BJP in Tamil Nadu. Reddy, 79, retired from the Supreme Court in July 2011 and is celebrated for landmark rulings, including those compelling the government to investigate black money stashed abroad, a major plank of the BJP’s 2014 election campaign.
Photo: X
