New Delhi : Vice President CP Radhakrishnan on Friday paid a floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in New Delhi, after he took the oath of office at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to Radhakrishnan.
He has succeeded Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resigned from the post citing health reasons. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Nitin Gadkari, along with other dignitaries, were present at the ceremony.
According to a top NDA source, the morning of September 12 was chosen for the ceremony as the time was found to be "auspicious by the pandit ji". Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, the NDA nominee, was elected as the 15th Vice President of India on Tuesday, securing 452 votes against Opposition candidate and former Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy, who received 300 votes.
Previously, he served as the Governor of Maharashtra. He has also served as the Governor of Jharkhand from February 2023 to July 2024. He also held additional charge as the Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry between March and July 2024.
A veteran BJP leader, Radhakrishnan, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore twice and served as the Tamil Nadu BJP State President. As the results for the elections were announced, Rajya Sabha Secretary General and Returning Officer PC Mody said that 767 out of 781 MPs cast their votes, recording a turnout of 98.2 per cent. Of these, 752 ballots were valid and 15 were invalid, lowering the required majority of first preference votes to 377.
While the NDA had the backing of 427 MPs on paper, 11 lawmakers from the YSRCP also supported Radhakrishnan. Interestingly, the NDA candidate received 14 votes more than expected, sparking speculation of cross-voting from the Opposition camp. Furthermore, 13 MPs abstained from voting in the election. These include seven MPs from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), four from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), one MP from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and one Independent MP.