Hanuman Beniwal, Chandra Shekhar Aazad extend support to opposition nominee Reddy in VP polls

Rashtriya Loktantrik Party's Hanuman Beniwal and Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram)'s Chandra Shekhar Azad met the opposition's vice presidential candidate B Sudershan Reddy on Monday and extended their support to him for the polls.

Beniwal, who represents Rajasthan's Nagaur seat in the Lok Sabha and Azad, the MP from Uttar Pradesh's Nagina, met Reddy and posed for pictures with the three holding a copy of the Constitution.

Congress MP Mallu Ravi was also present during the meeting.

The Congress took a swipe at the BJP over the BRS and the BJD deciding to abstain in the vice presidential polls.

"Two parties that stood with the BJP staunchly over the past decade in Parliament have decided to abstain in the vice-presidential election tomorrow. The shape of things to come?" Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said on X.

The stage is set for a direct contest between the ruling NDA's C P Radhakrishnan and the opposition's B Sudershan Reddy for Tuesday's vice presidential election, with the BJP-led alliance having a clear edge in the poll necessitated due to the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Both the NDA and the INDIA bloc held separate meetings on Monday in the Parliament complex in a show of strength, where they sensitised their own MPs about the election process and also held mock polls while exhorting their members to vote correctly.

Polling for the vice president election, in which members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are eligible to vote, would begin at 10 am in the new Parliament building and continue till 5 pm. The counting of votes will begin at 6 pm, and the result will be out later in the evening.

Members of Parliament are not bound by party whips to vote in the vice presidential election, which takes place under a secret ballot system.

The electoral college for the vice presidential election comprises a total of 788 members -- 245 from the Rajya Sabha and 543 from the Lok Sabha. The 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha are also eligible to vote in the election.

The present strength of the electoral college is 781, as six seats are vacant in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha. This puts the majority mark at 391. The NDA has 425 MPs, while the opposition camp has the backing of around 325 parliamentarians.

Among the political parties that are not part of the ruling or the opposition camps, the YSRCP, with 11 MPs, has decided to support the NDA nominee, while the BRS and the BJD have decided to abstain from voting in the election.