Voting began on Tuesday for the election of India’s next Vice President, with lawmakers casting their ballot to choose between two high-profile candidates – Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan, backed by the BJP-led NDA, and former Supreme Court judge Justice B Sudershan Reddy, fielded by the Opposition’s INDIA bloc.

The poll was called after Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned suddenly earlier this year.

While most parliamentarians headed to the ballot, three key political parties announced they would stay away from the contest.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD)

Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal, led by Naveen Patnaik, said it would abstain as part of its policy of keeping “equal distance” from both national alliances. The BJD has seven MPs in the Rajya Sabha and none in the Lok Sabha.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS)

The BRS, founded by former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, also chose to boycott the election. The party cited farmer distress in Telangana due to urea shortages.
“For the last 20 days, BRS has been warning both state and central governments about the shortage of urea. Yet they have failed to respond. As a mark of protest and in solidarity with 71 lakh Telangana farmers, BRS has decided not to participate in the Vice President election. If NOTA was an option, we would have chosen it,” said party working president KT Rama Rao.

The BRS currently has four MPs in the Rajya Sabha and none in the Lok Sabha.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)

Punjab’s Shiromani Akali Dal also stayed away, accusing both the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party-led state government of ignoring Punjab’s flood crisis.
 “Punjab and Punjabis have always stood by the nation whenever and wherever there has been a crisis. But today, Punjabis themselves face a very severe crisis because of unprecedented floods… Neither the state government nor the Centre have come forward to help Punjabis in any way,” the party said in a statement.

Former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is the lone SAD MP.

The Vice President is elected by both houses of Parliament. The electoral college has 781 members this time (due to seven vacancies), and the majority mark is 391 votes.

The NDA controls 293 Lok Sabha MPs and 129 Rajya Sabha members, while the INDIA bloc is backed by around 325 parliamentarians.