Rajya Sabha Elections 2018 Schedule Released by EC, Voting to be Held on March 23 for 58 Seats
Among those Rajya Sabha MPs whose terms are drawing towards conclusion, 9 represent the state of Uttar Pradesh.
New Delhi, Feb 23: The Election Commission of India on Friday released the schedule for the biennial polls to be held for 58 Rajya Sabha seats, which will fell vacant in April-May.
The 58 Rajya Sabha seats to be contested correspond to a total of 16 states. The voting will be held on March 23 at the respective legislative assemblies.
Among those Rajya Sabha MPs whose terms are drawing towards conclusion, 9 represent the state of Uttar Pradesh. Pollsters claim the current party-position in UP assembly, where the BJP holds over 2/3rd majority, will allow the saffron party to replace maximum among the incumbent lawmakers.
The MPs from UP whose term will end on April 2 are: Naresh Agarwal, Jaya Bachchan, Kiranmay Nanda, Chaudhary Munawar Saleem, Alok Tiwari and Darshan Singh Yadav (all SP), Munquad Ali (BSP), Pramod Tiwari (Congress) and Vinay Katiyar (BJP).
Jaya Bachchan, the wife of actor Amitabh Bachchan, may continue to represent the House despite the Samajwadi Party lacking numbers to re-nominate her. The Trinamool Congress has decided to nominate her from West Bengal.
The maximum gainer in this round of Rajya Sabha polls, experts claim, will be the BJP due to their spree of victories in the recent assembly polls. Apart from the nine seats from UP, the party is expected to bag three seats from Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, the occupant of the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Tripura will be determined by the outcome of the assembly polls, which will be declared on March 3. The seat is currently represented by CPI(M), which has been ruling Tripura with a brute majority since the past 25 years.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 23, 2018 07:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).