New Delhi: Maharashtra governor C.P. Radhakrishnan is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s candidate for vice president of India, BJP president J.P. Nadda announced on Sunday (August 17), close to a month after Jagdeep Dhankhar quit that office in a surprise move.The saffron party’s parliamentary board in a meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday decided that Radhakrishnan would be the NDA’s candidate for vice president, Nadda said in a press conference.Over the last week the BJP has been in touch with its allies in the NDA as well as with opposition leaders, and communicated its desire that the ruling alliance’s candidate be from the saffron party as well as that s/he is elected unopposed, Nadda said.Opposition leaders, he added, said they would decide on supporting the NDA candidate after the alliance decides who to field.Sixty-seven-year-old Radhakrishnan assumed charge as Maharashtra governor in July last year, prior to which he had also served as governor of Jharkhand and Telangana (on additional charge) as well as lieutenant governor of Puducherry.The Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu native, who joined the BJP’s ideological fountainhead the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a youth, was also MP for Coimbatore for two terms between 1998 and 2004.The post of vice president became vacant when Dhankhar – himself a former governor of West Bengal – stepped down in a surprise move on the evening of July 22, the first day of the monsoon session of parliament.Having discharged a contentious term as vice president, Dhankhar had cited the need to “prioritise health care and abide by medical advice” while stepping down, but the sudden nature of his resignation as well as Prime Minister Modi’s unusually terse acknowledgement of his decision had set off a flurry of speculation.Vice presidents, who are also ex-officio chairpersons of the Rajya Sabha, are elected by an electoral college comprising all Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, the total number of whom is presently 788, by way of a secret ballot using the proportional representation method.The last date for filing nominations is August 21 and if the opposition fields a candidate then an election will take place on September 9, the Election Commission has said.With the NDA enjoying a majority in both houses of parliament, Radhakrishnan’s election is likely and the BJP hopes to use his elevation to the post to widen the party’s footprint in Tamil Nadu, where assembly elections are due by next year, PTI reported.