BJP, Congress eying to gain strength in Rajya Sabha as Election dates announced for 55 seats
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Tuesday announced the polling dates for 55 Rajya Sabha (Council of States) Seats to be vacated in April.
According to the information provided by the ECI the notification will be issued on 6th March and the last date for filing of nominations is 13th March. Polling will be held on 26th March and counting will be held on the same day afternoon at 5 pm.
Total 22 Rajya Sabha members will retire in 4 states-Odisha, Maharastra, Tamilnadu and West Bengal on 2nd April 2020. Another 32 Rajya Sabha members from 12 states will retire on 9th April and one seat from Meghalaya is to be vacated on 12th April.
The Rajya Sabha Equation
Currently, the BJP has 83 members and the Congress has 43 members in the 250-member upper house. However, a close analysis says, the BJP is unlikely to get any substantial gain given the fact that it has lost several states between 2018 and 2020. As per an estimate, BJP and its allies may win at least 20 seats out of the total 55 seats. The Congress, on the other hand, may gain a good number of seats as it has won several important states since December 2018.
As many as 18 members from BJP will retire in 2020 from the Rajya Sabha. However, Uttar Pradesh may come to the rescue of the saffron party as 10 members are retiring from the state later this year and with adequate numbers in its hand, BJP may bag maximum seats in the state.
The Odisha Equation
4 Rajya Sabha members Anubhav Mohanty, Ranjib Biswal, Narendra Swain and Sarojini Hembram will be retiring on 2nd April. With 113 MLAs, the ruling BJD in Odisha is likely to retain at least 3 seats. However, it will need the support of 7 more MLAs to win the 4th one. On the other hand, BJP has 23 MLA’s in the Odisha Legislative Assembly and it requires the support of another 7 members to bag one Rajya Sabha Seat.
