Vice President Election: Cross-Voting Shows Cracks In INDIA Bloc
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2025-09-10 11:11:19
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
It was a foregone conclusion that NDA's CP Radhakrishnan would be India's next Vice President. The numbers were in his favour from the start. The surprise was not the win - it was the margin.
Radhakrishnan needed 377 votes. He got 452. Given NDAs numbers and the expected support from some parties and Independents, 440 was predicted by many experts. But a dozen more? That does not happen without cross-voting. Opposition MPs cross-voted, and some managed to waste their votes entirely. Fifteen votes were declared invalid. It was indiscipline coupled with disarray.
Almost every MP showed up to vote - the turnout was 98 percent. That is why the result stands out even more. Nobody can blame this on absentees or no-shows. The truth is simple: some opposition MPs walked into that booth and chose not to back their own side.
For the NDA, this was not just a clean win - it was a show of strength. Radhakrishnan does not just have the support of his allies. His big win shows that the opposition camp cannot hold together. He will now sit in the Vice-President's chair with the quiet knowledge that a few of his opponents secretly voted for him.
For the INDIA bloc, it is a harsh reality check. If they cannot stay united in a straightforward contest like this, what happens when the stakes rise? Their candidate, B. Sudershan Reddy, did not have the numbers. But the real damage is not the defeat - it is the cracks in unity that the whole country just saw. Cross-voting debunks INDIA bloc's claim that they remain united.
Radhakrishnan's victory is not a surprise. But the number of votes he got should definitely see creases on the forehead of INDIA bloc leaders. They have a lot of work to do if they want to challenge the NDA seriously.
