Rajya Sabha polls in 10 states and bypolls in another two will be conducted, if contested, on June 18.
A total of 26 seats will be filled, and if MLAs of the seats stick to their party whips, no significant change is expected in the Upper House. At present, the NDA holds 17 seats, the INDIA bloc 6, and the YSR Congress 3.
Elections will be conducted for 24 seats in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Mizoram.
These include the seats of former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, who passed away last year. It also includes the seat of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh of the Congress, who has announced that he won’t contest. The seats of Union ministers George Kurian and Ravneet Singh — BJP MPs from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — are also up for polls.
Seats falling vacant in Karnataka include those of Rajya Sabha Opposition leader and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, as well as former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal Secular.
Bypolls will be conducted for Maharashtra deputy chief minister and NCP leader Sunetra Pawar’s seat and AIADMK rebel C.V. Shanmugam’s seat in Tamil Nadu.
The state where most seats are expected to change hands is Andhra Pradesh, where the NDA is poised to gain three from the YSR Congress. It remains to be seen how many seats, if any, the ruling Telugu Desam Party cedes to its allies — the BJP and Jana Sena Party.
The NDA is expected to lose a seat to the Congress in Karnataka and gain former Gujarat Congress chief Shaktisinh Gohil’s seat in the state.
NDA ally AIADMK is also expected to lose a seat to the TVK-led alliance that includes the Congress. The Mizo National Front, estranged yet formally in the NDA, is also expected to lose the Mizoram seat to the ruling Zoram People’s Movement, to whom the BJP has made overtures.
In the Congress, party publicity head Pawan Khera is vying for MP Neeraj Dangi’s seat from Rajasthan. Digvijaya's seat could go to a Dalit leader, following demands from the party’s Scheduled Caste wing, or even former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath. The party may also pitch for support for a seat from allies JMM and TVK.