The mind games appear to be in full play in the ensuing vice-presidential elections scheduled for September 9. The election appears to have turned into a game of chess between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the ‘united Opposition’, which has been avoiding the use of name ‘INDIA’. This is because the ‘united Opposition’ also includes the AAP, although it is no more part of the INDIA bloc.
The NDA fielded CP Radhakrishnan from Tamil Nadu as its vice-presidential candidate. This put the ruling Dravida Munitra Kazgham there in a piquant situation. Although strongly opposed to the BJP, the DMK still faced a predicament in opposing the “son of the soil” in the vice-presidential elections. But that “predicament” was neutralised by the “united Opposition” by fielding its candidate from the Telugu Desam Party-ruled Andhra Pradesh, thus putting the TDP in a similar predicament as the DMK was put by the NDA in Tamil Nadu.
The “united Opposition parties” agreed upon a common candidate for the vice-presidential elections scheduled to be held on September 9. On Tuesday, these parties decided to field Justice (Retd) B Sudershan Reddy as the common candidate against Radhakrishnan of the NDA. Apparently the NDA has a decisive edge as it enjoys a brute majority in the electoral college of 781, having the support of 426 members.
Although the ruling and Opposition alliances are too polarised to have any consensus on any issue, given the mathematics of the electoral college, the election of the NDA candidate is a foregone conclusion, although both sides have tried to play regional politics.
By fielding Radhakrishnan, a native of Tamil Nadu, the BJP has put the ruling DMK, a party that espouses Tamillian identity and interests, in a political dilemma. Given its recent history, it is completely opposed to, rather hostile towards, the BJP. At the same time, it can face questions within the state as to why it did not support the “son of the soil” in the vice-presidential elections.
The DMK has not made its stand clear as of now on the issue. Nor did Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge specify about the DMK’s stand on the issue when he announced that Justice Sudershan was the unanimous Opposition candidate. He did not take any questions after announcing his candidature at a press conference.
But, the Opposition has also tried to play the same regional card as the ruling NDA did. As the NDA fielded its candidate from Tamil Nadu, apparently to put the ruling DMK there in a predicament, the Opposition fielded its candidate from Andhra Pradesh, thus putting the ruling Telugu Desam Party there in a similar predicament. It is sort of a tit for tat; political checkmate.
Also read: Ex-SC judge Sudershan Reddy named INDIA Bloc VP candidate
Justice Sudershan not only belongs to Telangana (Ranga Reddy district adjoining Hyderabad), he has had close association with the Telugu Desam Party before making it to the bench, when he was appointed the judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 1995. He rose to become a judge of the Supreme Court of India and retired in 2011.
In all likelihood, there should not be any dilemma anymore for the DMK in Tamil Nadu in opposing the BJP candidate Radhakrishnan as the TDP has already clarified that it will go along with the NDA pick even though the Opposition candidate belonged to Andhra Pradesh and had old association with the party.
Coming to the elections, there is not much scope for the Opposition alliance of any manoeuvring that may cause any upset result. The ruling NDA has the support of 426 MPs in both the Houses of the Parliament, while the Opposition alliance has the support of 310 MPs.
Right now the electoral college consists of 781 MPs, 542 from the Lok Sabha and 239 from the Rajya Sabha as there are six vacancies in the upper house. The TDP has a total of 17 MPs, 16 in Lok Sabha and one in Rajya Sabha. Even if the party decides to support the “son of the soil”, almost an impossible proposition, it will not make much difference to the final outcome. Even if it decides to abstain, that will also not make any difference.
Similarly, the DMK has 26 MPs, 22 in the LS and 4 in the RS. Although there is no question of the party going against the Opposition alliance candidate, even if it does, it still will not make any difference.
Yes, the Opposition block, the Congress in particular, has sort of checkmated the ruling NDA strategically, by countering it with a reverse move. By fielding a candidate from the TDP-ruled Andhra Pradesh, it has neutralised any possibility of the DMK thinking “otherwise”. When the TDP will not have any inhibition in opposing the candidate from Andhra Pradesh, so should the DMK not have any problem in opposing a candidate from Tamil Nadu.
Otherwise also, the NDA and the Opposition vice-presidential candidates come from ideologically contrasting political thinking. While Radhakrishnan comes from a strong RSS background, Sudershan is considered to be of progressive thinking.
The vice-presidential election in any way is going to be a procedural formality as the NDA has a clear lead of more than 116 electoral votes over the combined Opposition. Had the ruling alliance and the Opposition parties not been involved in such unprecedented hostility, the vice-president could have been appointed through consensus and it would have conveyed a positive signal.
But that is really too much to expect in the current times. If the government and the Opposition cannot have a consensual approach in dealing with challenging issues like US tariffs and Pahalgam terror attack, expecting consensus on vice-presidential elections sounds too unrealistic.
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