Voting for India’s Vice Presidential election is set for September 9. The ruling NDA has nominated former Maharashtra Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan, while the opposition has fielded former Andhra Pradesh judge B. Sudarshan Reddy. On the eve of the vote, Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM party declared support for Reddy. Owaisi said, “At the request of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, we are backing the opposition candidate to strengthen the fight against the Centre.” Reddy already has backing from Congress, DMK, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction), AAP, and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction). Though parliamentary arithmetic favors the NDA candidate, analysts say the opposition’s campaign is more about sending a political message than securing victory.