The Election Commission has announced that elections to 11 Rajya Sabha seats, 10 from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttarakhand, will be held on October 16. A by-election to a vacant Rajya Sabha seat in West Bengal will also be held on the same day.
Of the 10 Uttar Pradesh seats, eight are currently held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s seat. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) hold one seat each. The large number of seats from Uttar Pradesh makes this round of elections politically significant for the composition of the Upper House.
UP Dominates Poll Calendar
Nine seats in Uttar Pradesh and the lone Uttarakhand seat are due to fall vacant after the terms of the sitting MPs end on November 25. Another Uttar Pradesh seat fell vacant following MP Dinesh Sharma’s resignation on September 11 after he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Uttar Pradesh seats are held by Arun Singh, Geeta alias Chandraprabha, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal, Ram Gopal Yadav, Ramji, BL Verma, Seema and Hardeep Singh Puri. The Uttarakhand seat is held by Naresh Bansal.
Vacancies Set Stage For Contest
The West Bengal by-election was necessitated by the resignation of Rukmini Malik. Polling and counting of votes will take place on October 16.
Among those whose terms are ending is former BJP national general secretary Arun Singh, who is considered a loyal organisational hand and close to the party’s senior leadership.
NDA’s Upper House Numbers
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) currently has at least 142 MPs in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, where 242 seats are occupied. The majority mark is 123, while 161 votes would be required for a special majority if all members are present and voting.
The BJP has 116 MPs on its own, including seven former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs who joined the party in April this year. A majority of the seven nominated members are also understood to have allegiance to the BJP, Indian Express reports.
Opposition Numbers In Focus
Non-NDA parties account for a little over 100 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. The House also includes parties whose positions can become important depending on the issue before Parliament.
The DMK has eight seats, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) five, the YSR four and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) five. With 12 seats going to the polls across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, the October 16 exercise will be closely watched for how it changes the party-wise composition of the Rajya Sabha.
