Leaders of the INDIA bloc Tuesday announced ex-Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy as their candidate for the Vice-Presidential election to be held on September 9. The announcement comes after a huddle at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence to deliberate on fielding a common candidate.

The BJP-led NDA named Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan as its nominee for the post on Sunday. Radhakrishnan is a former president of the party’s Tamil Nadu unit and RSS veteran.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had also reached out to opposition leaders, including Kharge, seeking support for a consensus choice.

The deliberations come against the backdrop of the September 9 election, which was necessitated after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from the post last month citing health reasons. The last date for filing nominations is August 21.

Last time, the opposition had fielded Margaret Alva, who lost to Dhankhar.

The majority mark is 394 with the combined strength of both houses at 786.