New Delhi : The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is all set to increase its strength in Rajya Sabha after the February 27 elections to fill up 56 vacancies in the Upper House across fifteen States in the country. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA's tally looks to go up by six seats in RS because of the recent joining of the Janata Dal (United) and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) into the ruling NDA at the Centre.
The states where NDA is set to gain RS seats include Bihar, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The present strength of NDA in the Upper House is 114 with BJP having the highest number of 93 members and the Congress having the second highest of 30 seats.
As per indications, the BJP-JDU combine may win two seats from the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress in Bihar. In the latest political U-turn, JDU chief Nitish Kumar bid goodbye to INDIA bloc and joined the NDA thereby forming a new government with the support of BJP and its allies. The coming elections will be held for six vacancies in Bihar, two each held by the ruling JDU and the opposition RJD while the the Congress and the BJP have one each. The BJP had three of the six RS seats falling vacant in Maharashtra while the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress had one each.
On Monday, the Election Commission of India announced elections to 56 RS seats, which include 10 seats from Uttar Pradesh, six each from Bihar and Maharashtra, five each from West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, four each from Karnataka and Gujarat, three each from Rajasthan, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and one each from Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
On the other hand, the Congress may gain one seat from the BJP in Himachal Pradesh, where the grand old party has come to power in the 2023 Assembly elections. BJP national president J P Nadda held the RS seat in HP till now.
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