New Delhi, Sept 9: Voting began on Tuesday to elect India’s next Vice President, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi casting the first ballot in the contest between NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy.

Modi, accompanied by Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jitendra Singh and L Murugan, voted at Parliament House before leaving for flood-hit Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

Among early voters were Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, and Sonia Gandhi. The 92-year-old Gowda arrived in a wheelchair, while Kharge and Union minister Nitin Gadkari were seen walking hand in hand to the booth.

The election was necessitated by the sudden re

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