Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast the first vote as polling opened at 10 am for the high-stakes Vice Presidential election. Voting will continue until 5 pm, with counting scheduled to begin at 6 pm.

The NDA’s candidate, C P Radhakrishnan, is contesting against Justice (Retd) B Sudershan Reddy, the nominee of the Congress-led INDIA bloc.

The contest comes after Jagdeep Dhankhar unexpectedly resigned as vice-president on July 21, citing health reasons.

Modi, accompanied by Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jitendra Singh and L Murugan, cast his vote in the polling booth set up in Room No. 101 Vasudha in Parliament building.

“Voted in the 2025 Vice President election,” Modi said in a post on X, before embarking on a visit to flood-hit states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

Among the early voters were Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Meghwal, Pralhad Joshi, Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Harivansh, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Nasser Hussain.

The 92-year-old Gowda arrived at the polling booth in a wheel chair.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were seen walking hand in hand to the polling booth.