CP Radhakrishnan swears in as 15th Vice-President of India

Radhakrishnan, who succeeded Jagdeep Dhankhar, was sworn in as the new V-P by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

The Vice-President of India also happens to be the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, key ruling party ally, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, former President Ram Nath Kovind were among the attendees.

Most opposition leaders including LoP Rahul Gandhi were absent.

Radhakrishnan sworn in by President Murmu. Photo: Screen-grab/YouTube

Radhakrishnan defeated his opponent ex-Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy, who was fielded by the INDIA bloc, by 152 votes, which is one of the lowest margins in the Vice-Presidential election.

While Radhakrishnan got 452 first preferential votes, Reddy secured 300 first preferential votes.

Fifteen out of the total 754 votes cast were declared invalid.

In 2022, Jagdeep Dhankhar had defeated Opposition's Margaret Alva's by the highest margin in the last six V-P elections. Dhankhar had received 528 votes as opposed to Alva's 182.

But the slim margin this time is much due to the change in the political dynamics post 2024 Lok Sabha elections as the Opposition has emerged as the strongest since the current regime took over in 2014.

The INDIA bloc has 234 MPs while Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) couldn't secure the majority (stopped at 240) in the last parliamentary elections.

The chatter over cross-voting has emerged as the NDA secured 14 votes higher than what it should have got ideally.

With YSRCP's support of 11 MPs, the NDA with its own 427 MPs would have got 438 votes in the best-case scenario.

The election was necessitated as Dhankhar announced a shock resignation on the inaugural day of the last monsoon session on July 21.