New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI) With neither of the two candidates for the vice presidential election withdrawing their nomination, the stage is set for a direct contest between ruling NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy on September 9.

Both candidates this time hail from southern India, with Radhakrishnan from Tamil Nadu and Reddy from Telangana. The vice-presidential poll has been described by the opposition as an ideological battle, even as the numbers are stacked in favour of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

After the last date of withdrawals on Monday, Buchireddy Sudershan Reddy and C P Radhakrishnan remain in the fray now.

Rajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody, who is the returning officer for the vice-presidential election, in a statement said that the polling for the Vice-Presidential Election, 2025, will take place on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, in Room No. F-101, Vasudha, Parliament House, New Delhi.

The polling will commence at 10 AM and close at 5 PM on September 9.

"The electoral college for election to the Office of the Vice-President of India consists of the Members of both Houses of Parliament. The nominated Members of Rajya Sabha are also eligible to be included in the Electoral College and, therefore, are entitled to participate in the election.

"The polling arrangements in Parliament House are being made by Shri P.C. Mody, the Returning Officer for the Vice-Presidential Election, 2025, and Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha," the statement from Rajya Sabha secretariat said.

"The counting of votes will commence at 6 PM on the same day and the result will be declared immediately thereafter," it said.

While Radhakrishnan is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran from Tamil Nadu and the governor of Maharashtra currently, Reddy is a former Supreme Court judge who hails from Telangana.

Radhakrishnan (67) served as a two-term member of the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore during the tenure of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and later went on to lead the saffron party in Tamil Nadu.

Reddy (79), who retired from the apex court in July 2011, is a veteran jurist known for several landmark judgments criticising the then Union government for showing slackness in probing black-money cases. He had also declared Salwa Judum, appointed by the Chhattisgarh government, as unconstitutional.

As an apex court judge, Reddy ordered the formation of a special investigation team to take all steps for bringing back unaccounted monies unlawfully kept in bank accounts abroad.

Retrieving black money deposited in foreign banks was a key electoral plank of the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

According to a statement from the Rajya Sabha secretary general, the process of the vice-presidential election commenced on August 7 with the issuance of a notification.

For the 17th vice-presidential election slated to be held on September 9, the electoral college consists of 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha (five seats are currently vacant), 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha (one seat is currently vacant).

The electoral college comprises a total of 788 members (782 presently) of both houses of Parliament. One Rajya Sabha member, Shibu Soren, has since died.

The NDA is projecting Radhakrishnan as an untainted leader with rich political and administrative experience for the vice president's office and maintaining that these qualities would also prove to be useful as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Radhakrishnan was the chairman of the All India Coir Board from 2016 to 2020, a period when coir exports witnessed a significant jump.

The Congress-led INDIA bloc is projecting Reddy as a consistent and courageous champion of social, economic and political justice. Reddy has had a long and eminent legal career, including as a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the chief justice of the Gauhati High Court and a judge of the Supreme Court. He also led the committee that undertook the caste survey in Telangana. PTI SKC SKC KVK RT RT