Overview

• Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge announced former Supreme Court judge B. Sudarshan Reddy as the INDIA bloc’s candidate, with his nomination set for August 21 ahead of the September 9 vote.
• The NDA has named Maharashtra governor and veteran Tamil Nadu BJP leader CP Radhakrishnan as its pick, and he was welcomed in Delhi by alliance leaders and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The vice-presidential electoral college requires 394 votes to win, and reports put the NDA near 422 MPs versus roughly 300 for the opposition.
• Modi has called for a unanimous election, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is reaching out to parties not aligned with either bloc, with YSR Congress already pledging support to Radhakrishnan.
• Radhakrishnan’s Tamil Nadu profile is central to the BJP’s outreach to southern parties, while opposition leaders say their nominee is meant to project unity and an ideological counter.