The Election Commission on Monday notified elections to 56 Rajya Sabha seats that will be held on February 27. The retiree list includes BJP president J.P. Nadda, nine Union Ministers and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The elections will not change the balance between the treasury benches and the Opposition in the Upper House drastically. While the BJP is expected to keep its tally, the Opposition ranks will be further diminished by a few seats.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya are among the retirees. With the BJP taking a position that its Ministers should take the Lok Sabha route, instead of the Rajya Sabha, many of these Ministers will not return to the Upper House.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to gain around six seats — two each in Maharashtra, Bihar and Gujarat — in the Rajya Sabha after the February 27 elections, with the JD(U) and the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar having joined the ruling coalition. The NDA’s current strength in the Upper House of Parliament stands at 114, including 93 of the BJP.
The Opposition ranks will be depleted, especially in Maharashtra, where out of the six retiring, three seats are held by the BJP and one each by the NCP, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav) and the Congress. The three parties that together form the Maha Vikas Agadi will only be able to send one nominee.
Highest vacancies
Uttar Pradesh will have the highest number of vacancies of 10 seats. Here currently the BJP holds nine and the Samajwadi Party (SP) one. The Opposition will make up for its loss in Maharashtra here with the SP expected to gain two additional members, as it is likely to win three out of the 10 seats up for grabs and the BJP seven.
For renomination to the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Nadda will have to look for a seat outside his home State of Himachal Pradesh as the Congress is in power there.
In Bihar, RJD members Manoj Kumar Jha and Ahmad Ashfaque Karim, JD(U) members Aneel Prasad Hegde and Bashistha Narain Singh, BJP member Sushil Kumar Modi and Congress member Akhilesh Prasad Singh are completing their tenures in the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress can also look forward to sending its nominees to the Upper House of Parliament from Karnataka and Telangana — the States where it came to power last year. In Karnataka, four Rajya Sabha members are retiring, and in Telangana three.
The nomination process will begin on February 8 with the issuance of the notification. February 15 will be the last date for filing nominations while February 20 is the last date to withdraw candidature.
Separately, four nominated members are retiring in July while two nominated seats are vacant. Among the nominated members retiring in July are Mahesh Jethmalani, Sonal Mansingh, Ram Shakal and Rakesh Sinha of the BJP.
