New Delhi: 53 Rajya Sabha members are retiring today. Out of these 53 members, 16 are from Congress while 14 are from BJP.
The Election Commission has already announced the schedule for election of 57 Rajya Sabha members on June 11.
The numbers game in the Rajya Sabha, however, will not change drastically although BJP is poised to be the biggest gainer while Congress will be the biggest loser in terms of strength in the upper house.
The Congress party which has 64 members presently is likely to lose 5 seats and the party’s tally may come down to 59. The BJP, on the other hand, is likely to increase its tally from 49 to 53.
In all probability, the Congress will continue to be the largest party in the Rajya Sabha albeit with a depleted strength and BJP will maintain its number 2 position.
Five union ministers are also retiring today and they are - Venkaiah Naidu, Birender Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. All of them are likely to be re-elected.
Parliamentary Affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu is reportedly eyeing entry from Karnataka where a seat has fallen vacant after resignation of liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
He can also contest from Andhra Pradesh but for getting elected comfortably he’ll need TDP support. Piyush Goel may return to the upper house from Maharashtra while Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, in all likelihood, will get elected from UP.
The BJP will be the biggest gainer from Rajasthan and may win all 4 seats. Samajwadi Party will get maximum seats from UP. 6 members of BSP are retiring but only 2 new BSP members are likely to return. Mayawati’s close confidant Satish Chandra Mishra is likely to make a comeback in the upper house once again.
The Modi government had recently nominated 6 members to Rajya Sabha after 7 seats of nominated members fell vacant. The six newly nominated members are – former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, journalist Swapan Dasgupta, Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi, boxer Mary Kom, economist Narendra Jadhav and senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
Modi government had nominated Pranav Pandya, Gayatri Pariwar chief, to the Rajya Sabha but he declined the offer citing negative feedback from his followers. That vacancy is yet to be filled by the government.
