• The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) named Maharashtra Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan  as its vice-presidential candidate.

• Radhakrishnan is a two-time former member of Lok Sabha from Coimbatore.

• BJP president J.P. Nadda made the announcement following a meeting of the party’s parliamentary board, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and consultation with the party’s allies.

• The vice-presidential election has been necessitated following Jagdeep Dhankhar’s sudden resignation on July 21.

A former president of Tamil Nadu BJP

• Born on October 20, 1957, at Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan has a Bachelor’s degree in business administration.

• Starting as an RSS swayamsevak at the age of 16, he became a state executive committee member of the Bharatiya Janasangh in 1974.

• In 1996, Radhakrishnan was appointed secretary of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. 

• He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Coimbatore in 1998. He was re-elected in 1999.

• During his tenure as an MP, he served as the chairman and member of various parliamentary committees.

• Between 2004 and 2007, Radhakrishnan served as the Tamil Nadu BJP president.

• In 2004, he addressed the UN General Assembly as part of the Parliamentary Delegation.  

• From 2020 to 2022, he was the all-India in-charge of the BJP for Kerala.

• An avid sportsperson, Radhakrishnan was a college champion in table tennis and a long-distance runner. He also enjoys cricket and volleyball. 

• He was made the Jharkhand Governor in February 2023 and then shifted to Maharashtra in 2024.

• He was sworn in as the Governor of Maharashtra on July 31, 2024. Prior to this, he served as the governor of Jharkhand for nearly one-and-a-half years.

• While serving as Jharkhand Governor, he was also given additional charge as the Governor of Telangana and the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.

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