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The voting for the 15th Vice Presidential election began on Tuesday morning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi exercising his franchise along with other prominent ministers and MPs.
NDA's CP Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy are contesting against each other in a high-stakes contest. The counting of votes will also take place in the evening today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to cast his vote. The election comes 50 days after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from his post as the Vice President on July 21, citing health reasons. The stage is set for a contest between Radhakrishnan and retired Supreme Court Judge B Sudershan Reddy, who has been named as the joint opposition candidate for the Vice President's post. Union Minister Suresh Gopi said, "This election is not about choosing between anyone. It is an election aimed at selecting fairness, truthfulness, and effectiveness, which are most needed for the citizens of the country, whether they live inside or outside the country... As a person, I found CP Radhakrishnan to be the best worker or one of the best among thousands of workers in my ideological system." Both the BJP-led NDA and opposition parties held mock polls ahead of the crucial day earlier, telling the MPs to be cautious in exercising their franchise lest their vote be invalid. It seems that NDA's candidate CP Radhakrishnan has an edge with 427 MPs, well above the majority mark of 391, supporting him for the post. In the Lok Sabha, Radhakrishnan is expected to receive 293 votes, and 134 votes are likely to be cast in his favour in the Rajya Sabha. Joint opposition candidate Reddy is backed by 354 MPs, with 249 in the lower house and 105 in the upper house of the Parliament. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, "Numbers are fine but this voting is done on the basis of one's conscience. The entire country knows that the BJP is a use-and-throw party. The same thing happened with the Vice President, who is missing...The numbers will be in our favour." Currently, the Parliament comprises 781 members, including 542 in the Lok Sabha with one seat vacant and 239 in the Rajya Sabha with five seats vacant. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) decided to abstain from voting in the Vice Presidential elections. Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will not take part in the Vice Presidential poll. Moreover, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) announced that it will "boycott" the Vice Presidential election, given that people in Punjab are "upset and angry" over no help from the central or state government.
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