The Election Commission has announced elections for 26 Rajya Sabha seats in 12 states on June 18. Due to the expiry of the tenure of the members, NDA may lose 1 seat and Congress may gain 1 seat in these elections.
New Delhi: Election activity will be seen again next month in the upper house of the Indian Parliament, i.e. Rajya Sabha. The Election Commission has recently announced that elections will be held on June 18 for 26 vacant seats in 12 states. These elections are being held because the tenure of the members present on these seats is ending between June 21 and July 19. Those whose tenure is completing include former Prime Minister H.D. Big names like Deve Gowda, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh and Union ministers Ravneet Singh and George Kurien are included.
In which states are there elections?
Elections will be held on 4 seats each in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka on June 18. At the same time, votes will be cast for 3 seats each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, 2 seats in Jharkhand and 1 seat each in Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. Apart from this, by-elections will also be held on one seat each in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu on the same day.
This by-election is being held in Tamil Nadu because AIADMK leader C.V. Shanmugam has resigned from Rajya Sabha after being elected to the Assembly. At the same time, the seat has become vacant due to the election of Sunetra Pawar, who was a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra, in the Assembly.
Who benefits this time, who loses?
Out of the 26 seats where elections are being held, NDA currently has 18 seats. Congress has 4, YSR Congress has 3 and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has one seat. If we look at the current strength of the parties in the assemblies, this time NDA may lose one seat and may get 17 seats. At the same time, Congress can increase its number from 4 to 5. Apart from this, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is likely to get 2 seats and ‘Tamizhag Vetri Kazhagam’ (TVK) in Tamil Nadu is likely to get one seat, which will be their first seat in the Rajya Sabha.
NDA’s victory on the Maharashtra seat is considered certain. 3 out of 4 seats in Karnataka can go to Congress and 1 seat to BJP. In Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, BJP is likely to get 2-2 seats and Congress 1-1 seat. ‘Tamizhag Vetri Kazhagam’ has a good hold in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, so the party may get its first Rajya Sabha MP. Telugu Desam Party can win all 4 seats in Andhra Pradesh. Even in Gujarat, BJP can win all 4 seats. In Jharkhand, the JMM-Congress alliance is expected to get both the seats, but the BJP may try to snatch one seat through cross voting.
What is the situation in Rajya Sabha now?
There are total 244 members in Rajya Sabha. At present, NDA has 149 MPs. At the same time, there are 78 members from opposition parties and 17 MPs are from regional parties.