BJP’s winning tally won’t help it retain its all RS seats from Gujarat next year

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday won Gujarat but its winning tally won't help the party retain all its Rajya Sabha seats from the state when the Upper House goes to biennial polls to elect over 50 members from 14 states next year.
Four of the party's Rajya Sabha members from Gujarat will retire on April 2, 2018. Having bagging 99 assembly seats, the party will be able to retain only two seats (36 MLAs vote for one RS seat) with the remaining two going to the main opposition Congress.

The election to fill these four seats will be held along with over 50 others from different states in March next year. Four BJP members who will retire from the RS after completion of their present term in April include Arun Jaitley (Union finance minister), Parshottam Rupala, Mansukh Mandaviya and Shankarbhai Vegad.

At present, the BJP has nine out of 11 RS members from the state. After the next year's biennial election, its tally will be reduced to seven.

The BJP will, however, improve its overall tally in the RS after the biennial election with the help of the party's strength in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra assemblies. It will gain additional seven seats from UP and two from Maharashtra, taking the overall number of the ruling NDA in the Upper House from existing 84 to nearly 100 next year.

The result of Himachal Pradesh on Monday will help the BJP comfortably retain its seat in the state next year. Union health minister J P Nadda will retire as RS member from Himachal Pradesh on April 2.

Overall, the Rajya Sabha will see 64 vacancies next year with three being reported from Delhi in January, two from Jharkhand in May and three from Kerala in July. The 55 members who will retire in April include three nominated MPs - cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, actress Rekha and businesswoman and social worker Anu Aga.

The new nominated members will also give the ruling NDA much needed strength in the Upper House. Though nominated members are not bound by whip of the ruling party, they generally vote along side the treasury bench in the Rajya Sabha.

The NDA will look forward to having these nominated members on its side as the ruling alliance continues to be far short of the majority mark of 123 which is a must for getting key legislations passed in the Upper House.