RSS Pracharak Radhakrishnan to be India’s New Vice President
Former Maharashtra Governor and a member of right-wing Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), CP Radhakrishnan, has been elected 15th Vice President of India
New Delhi: Former Maharashtra Governor and a member of right-wing Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), CP Radhakrishnan, has been elected 15th Vice President of India.
Radhakrishnan defeated the INDIA bloc candidate B Sudershan Reddy – a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India.
The ruling NDA candidate Radhakrishnan received 452 of the total 767 votes whereas Sudershan Reddy of the INDIA bloc could manage only 300 votes, a figure which is at least 13 less than the its tally in the Parliament.
Interestingly, there were talks of cross-voting and cracks among the ruling alliance. However, the Vice President election result showed at least 13 Opposition MPs voted for the NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan.
Who is CP Radhakrishnan?
CP Radhakrishnan is a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - a right wing Hindu organisation. He was serving as Governor of Maharashtra when he was nominated as the NDA candidate for the Vice President Election 2025.
CP Radhakrishnan has also served as Governor Jharkhand from February 2023 to July 2024. His tenure as Jharkhand Govervor was marred by controversies.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who was sent to jail while on the post, has accused in the state assembly that the controversy to prison him was planned in the Raj Bhavan. Raj Bhavan is the official residence of Governor.
He began his political career by joining Jan Sangh in 1974. He joined the BJP after it was founded in 1980 and become an aide to Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Radhakrishnan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore in the 1998 and re-elected in the 1999 general elections. He was, however, defeated in 2004 and 2019 Parliament Elections.
Radhakrishnan is a member of the RSS but not the first from the organisation elected to the post. Venkaiah Naidu, India's 13th Vice President in office from August 2017 to August 2022, was also a member of the RSS.
Before Radhakrishnan and Venkaiah Naidu, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who served as India's Vice President from August 2002 to July 2007, was also a RSS Member. Shekhawat was in fact the first BJP leader and a RSS Prachark elected as the Vice President of India.
How Vice President Election in India is held?
As per Article 66 of the Constitution of India, the Vice-President is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of the members of both Houses of the Parliament - Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
Electoral College comprises of a total of 788 members (Presently, 782 members) of both Houses of the Parliament. Since, all the electors are members of both Houses of the Parliament, the value of vote of each Member of Parliament would be same i.e. 1 (one).
A total of 767 MPs cast their votes today as Biju Janata Dal of Odisha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) of Telangana and Shiromani Akali Dal of Punjab had announced that their MPs will abstain from voting.
The Vice President election 2025 was necessitated following the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankar in July this year.
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