Elections to 37 Rajya Sabha seats from 10 States to be held on March 16

Ruling BJP-led NDA expected is to gain substantially riding on the impressive performance in Maharashtra, Bihar and Odisha Assembly polls in the last two years.

New Delhi: Elections to the 37 Rajya Sabha seats from 10 States, which will fall vacant in April, will be held on March 16, with the ruling BJP-led NDA expected to gain substantially riding on the impressive performance in the Maharashtra, Bihar and Odisha Assembly polls in the last two years.

Maharashtra will see the highest number of seats going to Rajya Sabha polls at seven followed by Tamil Nadu (six), Bihar and West Bengal (five each), Odisha (four), Assam (three), Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Haryana (two each) and Himachal Pradesh with one seat. Another 35 seats will go to polls later this year.

Announcing the schedule, the Election Commission said the 37 seats going to polls will fall vacant on April 2 and 9, and notifications for the polls will be issued on February 26. The last date for filing nominations is March 5.

The prominent MPs who are retiring include Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh (JD-U), Union Minister Ramdas Athawale (RPI-A), Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP), Abhishek Singhvi (Congress), M Thambidurai (AIADMK), Tiruchi Siva (DMK) and Upendra Kushwaha (RLM).

Among the retiring MPs, BJP has nine while its allies JD(U) has two, and RPI, AIADMK, Tamil Manila Congress and RLM have one each. The I.N.D.I.A. bloc has a total 19. The MPs retiring are from Congress, DMK and Trinamool Congress (four each), NCP-SP and RJD (two each), Shiv Sena-UBT, CPI(M) and Independent (one each). BJD has two MPs while BRS has a retiring MP.

The NDA is likely to increase its tally from 15 to 25 while the I.N.D.I.A. bloc may have to settle for 10, down from 19.

In Maharashtra, where NCP-SP (two), SS-UBT (one) and Congress (one) have four retiring MPs, it may have to settle for just a single seat following the I.N.D.I.A. bloc’s near decimation in the 2024 Assembly polls.

None of these parties have enough votes on their own to get a candidate elected, and if Pawar expresses his desire to contest again, the seat is all set to go to him.

Bihar has five seats going to polls with RJD and JD(U) holding two each and RLM one. The BJP is likely to make a claim on two seats while the Opposition will have to struggle to win the fifth seat as the I.N.D.I.A. bloc will be shy of at least six votes. With Harivansh retiring, it is to be seen whether he returns as Deputy Chairman for the third term if he gets another shot in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP is likely to win three of the four seats in Odisha while the fourth could go to the BJD. The Congress said it will reach out to the BJD to field a joint independent candidate.

This edition of polls will also see the CPI(M) losing its last MP from West Bengal even as the Trinamool Congress is set to retain four while the BJP is likely to get the fifth seat. The BJP is likely to retain its two seats while it is to be seen who will occupy the third seat presently held by Ajit Kumar Bhuyan.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK is set to retain four seats but it is to be seen whether it would accede to a demand by the Congress for a seat amid strains in the alliance. The BJP would like to get one of the two seats the AIADMK alliance can win but the second seat is presently held by Tamil Manila Congress’ G K Vasan.

The BJP will lose one of the two seats in Haryana while the same is the case for the Congress in Chhattisgarh. In Telangana, the Congress and the BRS will share one each seat, with Abhishek Singhvi likely to be renominated by the former.

Himachal Pradesh will be a gain for the Congress as it will wrest the lone seat from the BJP.