Overview

• Voting runs from 10 am to 5 pm on September 9 with counting from 6 pm, and all MPs of both Houses, including nominated Rajya Sabha members, cast secret ballots without party whips.
• The NDA is backed by around 425 MPs against a majority mark of 391 based on a current electoral college of 781, with YSRCP support and the opposition camp reported at about 324.
• BJD and BRS announced they will abstain, citing equidistance and a protest over urea shortages in Telangana, which reduces the effective voting pool and lowers the victory threshold to about 386 in some tallies.
• Both blocs conducted briefings and mock polls to minimise invalid ballots, with the INDIA alliance urging conscience votes and framing the contest as a test of institutional impartiality.
• The campaign featured attacks over B. Sudershan Reddy’s 2011 Salwa Judum judgment, followed by a letter from former Supreme Court judges objecting to Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks.