BJD, BRS, Akali Dal to abstain from vice-presidential election

This will not impact electoral arithmetic that is leaning in favour of ruling party candidate C.P. Radhakrishnan; both sides conduct meetings and mock polls on election eve to ensure maximum attendance of their MPs; all eyes on Shiv Sena (UBT)

Ahead of the Vice-Presidential election scheduled for Tuesday (September 9, 2025), three parties — the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of Odisha, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of Punjab, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) of Telangana — have declared their intent to abstain from the polls. Their declaration, though, makes little difference to the poll arithmetic, with the nominee of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), C.P. Radhakrishnan, headed for a comfortable victory.

Both the NDA and Opposition parties are pulling out all the stops to ensure maximum attendance of all their members. The two sides held a meeting on the eve of the polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the NDA meet, after which Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said all its MPs will be present for the Tuesday’s (September 9, 2025) poll. “It was a very good meeting. All MPs of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha met together, and PM Modi also guided them,” he said. Mr. Modi, he said, expressed his happiness that important Bills were passed in Parliament recently, and urged the NDA parliamentarians to spread the message to people.

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Akali Dal’s grouse

The BJD, SAD, and the BRS have 12 seats in both Houses put together. While the BJD and the BRS have explicitly said they will “abstain”, the SAD said it will boycott the election, accusing the AAP-run State government, the BJP-led Centre and the lead Opposition party Congress of not helping the State during the unprecedented floods. Former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is the Akali Dal’s sole member of Parliament and represents the Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency.

Both the BJD and the BRS said they are neither with the ruling NDA nor with the Opposition INDIA bloc. “The BJD remains equidistant from both the NDA and INDIA. We are focused on the development and welfare of Odisha and its 4.5 crore people,” BJD leader Sasmit Patra said. Speaking on similar lines, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said: “The BRS is a completely independent party. We have no bosses in Delhi. Telangana people are our only bosses.”

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Vote statistics

If all the MPs who form the electorate for the Vice-Presidential election were to cast their votes in Tuesday’s election, then the NDA stands at 432 and the joint Opposition bloc at 324, a difference of 115 votes. If the margin is maintained in this range, then it will be the narrowest margin for any Vice-Presidential candidate since 2014. In the 2022 poll, NDA nominee Jagdeep Dhankhar won by a margin of 346 votes, and in 2017, Venkaiah Naidu won by 272 votes.

To present a united front, the Opposition held a meeting at the central hall of Samvidhan Sadan (old Parliament Building), where the members were briefed on the election process, particularly the right method to mark their choice. This brief training was given because in the 2022 election, 15 votes were invalidated. As per posters put up by the Rajya Sabha secretariat at the poll venue, the MPs are to put number 1 in the column “order of preference” against the candidate of their choice. A tick mark or cross mark would invalidate the vote. Any writing, like name or signature or any other word would also lead to rejection of the vote. These details were reiterated by Congress’s senior leader Jairam Ramesh at the meeting.

Also Read | PM Modi to cast first vote in vice-presidential election

‘Ideological battle’

Describing the Vice-Presidential election as an ideological battle, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav underscored the importance of contesting the election, despite not having the required numbers to mount a credible challenge to the NDA nominee.

The MPs are not bound by party whips to vote in the election, which takes place under a secret ballot system. This has posed a challenge for the Opposition. All eyes will be on the Shiv Sena (UBT) which has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha. “There is a strong speculation that at least half of the Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs could cross-vote,” a senior Opposition leader said.

Among the leaders who attended the meeting at the Samvidhan Sadan were Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party leader Sonia Gandhi, NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar and DMK leader T.R. Baalu.

The NDA also held a meeting of their MPs to brief them on the election process. The members also participated in a mock poll.

(With inputs from Vikas Vasudeva)