Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Friday said the Opposition’s candidate for Vice-President, Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, will better represent the “concerns and aspirations” of the Northeast because of his familiarity with the region and its issues.

Gogoi, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, made the observation after a meeting with Reddy and eight Opposition MPs from the Northeast at a hotel in Guwahati.

Reddy, a former Supreme Court judge and a former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court, arrived in the city on Friday afternoon to seek support for his candidature.

“As a former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court, he (Reddy) is familiar with the situation of not only Assam, but that of the entire Northeast. He is also familiar with the political complexities of Manipur. I feel that as a vice-presidential candidate, he has all the knowledge, acumen, wisdom and experience to represent the concerns and aspirations of the Northeast at the highest forum,” Gogoi said.

Reddy was appointed the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court in 2005 and as a judge of the Supreme Court in 2007 before retiring in 2011.

Gogoi added: “I hope my colleagues from across political aisles will consider that we need someone who understands the Northeast, Manipur and the Assam Accord. I am confident that Reddyji will do much better (than our expectations).”

Manipur is suffering from an ethnic strife that erupted on May 3, 2023, while the Assam Accord, which was signed in 1985 to resolve the vexed influx issue, is yet to be implemented in toto.

Reddy is up against the ruling NDA’s nominee C.P. Radhakrishnan in the September 9 vice-presidential polls necessitated because of the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar on health grounds.

The numbers are stacked against Reddy. The eight northeastern states has 25 Lok Sabha seats and 14 Rajya Sabha seats. However, the Opposition has only eight MPs from the region and one Rajya Sabha member.

Reddy has already visited Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh to garner support for his candidature. While interacting with the media on Friday, Reddy said that he was confident of winning, given the response he has been getting from MPs, intellectuals and writers, and also because “no party can issue a whip”.

When asked about the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Reddy said there should be no design to exclude any individual or a group in the name of caste, community, religion or sex.

The SIR in Bihar has been triggering controversies following reports of alleged mass deletion of voters’ name.