Biennial Polls for 56 Rajya Sabha Seats on February 27 – Latest News |

NEW DELHI: Though BJP will gain two seats in Gujarat, the party may lose two in Uttar Pradesh where 10 seats will go to polls in this round of biennial election. Similarly, a gain of one seat for NDA in Maharashtra due to splits in Shiv Sena and NCP will not add up to the overall tally as BJP will lose its one seat in Himachal Pradesh. The election in Maharashtra will be keenly watched due to the splits.
Congress, on the other hand, will lose two seats in Gujarat but will gain two in Telangana where those seats are currently held by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
Though the return of JD(U) to the NDA fold on Sunday gave the alliance an advantage of five seats, the majority mark of 120 under the current strength of Rajya Sabha (238) continues to elude the ruling group. NDA’s tally with JD(U) is 114 in the upper House as on Monday.

Prominent members who will retire from Rajya Sabha in April include Union ministers Bhupender Yadav, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala; former Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and J P Nadda (BJP president), and former PM Manmohan Singh.
BJP will have the maximum number of retiring members in April. It is learnt that the party may not repeat many of its members as they may be asked to contest the upcoming LS polls.
Uttar Pradesh will have the highest number of vacancies of 10, followed by Maharashtra and Bihar (six each), Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal (five each), Karnataka and Gujarat (four each), Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan (three each), and Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh (one each).
The nomination process will begin on Feb 8 with the issuance of the notification. Last date for filing nominations will be Feb 15 while the last date for withdrawal of candidature will be Feb 20.