BJP Set To Strengthen Its Position In Upper House Of Parliament After Elections For 11 Rajya Sabha Seats In November

The biennial elections to 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on 9 November are set to change the political dynamics as the BJP is set to gain more seats and is inching towards a majority in the Upper House of Parliament along with allies and supporting parties.

Ten of these Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in November are from Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand.

The Rajya Sabha members due to retire on 25 November are Chandrapal Singh Yadav, Javed Ali, Ravi Prakash Verma, Ram Gopal Yadav (all from Samajwadi Party), Veer Singh and Rajaram (Bahujan Samaj Party), Raj Babbar and PL Punia (both from Congress), and Neeraj Shekhar, Hardeep Singh Puri, and Arun Singh (all from BJP). Only Raj Babbar was elected from Uttarakhand whereas the rest represented Uttar Pradesh in the Upper House.

As per the current configurations in Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the Samajwadi Party can win only one seat. The SP has renominated Ram Gopal Yadav as its candidate.

One possibility in Uttar Prdesh is of the opposition contesting one more seat, depending on the surplus votes available. However, as the opposition is not united, a joint opposition candidate is not likely to be fielded from the state.

Sources said that in case the BSP tries, it could get support from the Congress and surplus votes from the SP and other smaller parties. The sources said that the Congress is contemplating to contest if the BSP does not come up with any candidate, propping up a Brahmin candidate.

Hence, in the given scenario, the BJP is set to win the remaining nine seats from Uttar Pradesh. The lone seat from Uttarakhand is set to go into the BJP kitty too.

Thus, while the terms of three BJP lawmakers in the Upper House are set to end, the party is likely to gain seven more seats. The BSP's strength will be reduced to only two members and the SP four members after the elections.

The BJP numbers will increase to 93 after the elections, while the Congress strength will come down to 38 in the Rajya Sabha.

In the 245-member Rajya Sabha, the majority mark is 123. The BJP also has the support of AIADMK (9), YSRCP (6) and an understanding with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (7) and the Biju Janata Dal (9).

The Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday that the biennial elections to fill 11 Rajya Sabha seats in the two states will be held on 9 November.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)