Vice President Election 2025: Radhakrishnan vs Sudarshan Reddy in High-Stakes South India Showdown
Unprecedented Resignation Puts Election in Spotlight
Not every day does the nation get tossed into political suspense thanks to the Vice President calling it quits. When Jagdeep Dhankhar walked away from the post on July 21, 2025, nobody saw it coming—not his party, not the opposition, certainly not the public. With a simple social media post on X and no further explanation, the second-highest office in India was left vacant, leaving Parliament scrambling for a new face and plenty of speculation about what triggered Dhankhar's exit.
The hunt for a successor zoomed in on two heavyweights from South India: CP Radhakrishnan for the NDA, currently governing Maharashtra and embodying the BJP's ideology, and 79-year-old Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, the INDIA bloc's surprise pick and the first retired Supreme Court judge ever lined up for this race. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge announced Reddy's candidacy as an 'ideological battle,' hoping to send a strong signal that this contest is about more than numbers—it's about defending constitutional values.
Two South Indian Titans and the Numbers Game
Justice Reddy's story could fill a book. Born in a rural village close to Hyderabad in 1946, he graduated from Osmania University way back in 1971, building a career that started in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. He rose from government pleader to president of the High Court Advocates Association, landed a judgeship in 1993, and later served as the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court. His legacy took shape at the Supreme Court, especially with his powerhouse verdict in 2011—he led the bench that banned the infamous Salwa Judum militia, protecting Adivasi youth from being forced into paramilitary police work in the ongoing fight against Naxal violence. That judgment alone cemented his image as a guardian of rights over brute state power.
On the other side is CP Radhakrishnan, who not only carries the NDA flag but also the weight of the BJP's RSS-influenced worldview. Serving as Maharashtra's Governor, his political journey has included tight contests in his home state of Tamil Nadu and a solid reputation for party loyalty.
The electoral math has little suspense. The Vice President is picked by all sitting MPs in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha—a total of 787 votes up for grabs. With NDA controlling 422 MPs and the INDIA bloc around 300, there's almost zero doubt about the winner. Radhakrishnan will likely coast to victory, just as NDA candidates have done in the past two VP elections.
The South India angle, though, adds spice to the race. With both main candidates from the South, regional heavyweights like Andhra's Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana's K. Chandrashekar Rao find themselves walking a political tightrope. Do they back their geography or their national alliances? BJP, meanwhile, knows that keeping its Southern allies happy is a must, especially as the region often slips from the party's electoral grasp.
For the opposition, this is about optics and symbolism. They know they're outgunned, but putting up a candidate like Reddy shines a spotlight on debates the NDA would rather keep muted: judicial independence, rights of marginalized communities, and those sticky questions about state power. Sure, it's mostly a symbolic move, but in Indian politics, symbols can lay the groundwork for big movements down the line, especially with the South's growing say in national coalitions.
The weeks ahead promise debates, sharp speeches, maybe some last-minute cross-voting drama, but unless something wild happens, Radhakrishnan's win is pretty much sealed. Yet, the campaign is less about the vote tally and more about the tug of war over what kind of leadership and justice Indians want. It's rare to see a Vice President race draw this much attention—sometimes all it takes is an unexpected resignation and two rivals from the same region to get everyone talking.