The Opposition INDIA bloc on Tuesday said that former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy will be its candidate for the vice presidential election.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge announced that the bloc had decided to nominate a joint candidate for the polls. “It is a big moment for democracy,” said Kharge, the bloc’s convener.

“We all know how he stood for the poor and protected the Constitution,” added Kharge. “This is an ideological battle, and all Opposition parties agreed, that’s why we are contesting the election.”

Reddy was a judge in the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 1995 before becoming the chief justice of the Gauhati High Court in 2005. He was a judge of the Supreme Court from 2007 to 2011, when he retired.

Reddy also served as Goa’s first Lokayukta, or the anti-corruption ombudsman, in 2013.

The INDIA bloc’s announcement came two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party said that Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan will be the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s candidate for the vice presidential election.

BJP chief JP Nadda had said on Sunday that he hopes Radhakrishnan will be elected unopposed.

The vice president is also the Rajya Sabha chairperson.

The polls to elect the vice president are scheduled for September 9. The election result will be announced on the polling day itself.

The election was necessitated after Jagdeep Dhankar resigned from the post on July 21 “to prioritise health care and abide by medical advice”. He had become the vice president on August 11, 2022, and his five-year term would have concluded in 2027.

Reddy’s opponent, Radhakrishnan, has been the Maharashtra governor since July 2024. He previously served as the governor of Jharkhand and Telangana, and the lieutenant governor of Puducherry.

Radhakrishnan was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the BJP. He was the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit chief between 2004 and 2007.

He was a BJP Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore between 1998 and 2004.

Vice presidential election

The vice president is chosen by the electoral college, which consists of elected as well as nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. Unlike in the president’s election, state legislators do not vote.

Voting happens in the Parliament building by secret ballot. MPs rank the candidates in order of their choice.

For the upcoming polls, the electoral college consists of 12 nominated members and 233 elected members of the Upper House, and 543 Lok Sabha MPs.

A day after Dhankhar resigned, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished him good health and said that the Rajya Sabha chairperson had “got many opportunities to serve our country in various capacities”.

Several Opposition leaders had raised questions about the timing of Dhankhar’s resignation. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that there were “far deeper reasons” behind Dhankhar’s decision.