Bypolls to six Rajya Sabha seats to be held on December 20

New Delhi: Election to six vacant seats in Rajya Sabha, including three in Andhra Pradesh, will be held on December 20 and this could help the ruling BJP-led NDA increase its tally and cross the majority mark in the Upper House.

However, the election to four seats in Jammu and Kashmir, where Assembly elections were held in September and an Assembly constituted after six years, has not been announced. All the four seats have been vacant for the past three years.

The NDA is expected to win five of the six seats – three from Andhra Pradesh, one from Odisha and one from Haryana – owing to their numerical supremacy in these states while Trinamool Congress is expected to romp home comfortably in West Bengal.

The vacancies were created due to resignations by the six MPs owing to various reasons. These resignations had already put the NDA in majority in the Upper House.

Four of the six vacancies arose after three YSR Congress and one BJD MP resigned from their parties and the Rajya Sabha. The former Odisha MP joined the BJP while the Andhra MPs are aligned with the NDA.

The resignations of YSR Congress MPs M Venkataramana Rao, Beedha Mashtan Rao Yadav and R Krishnaih came after YSR Congress lost to TDP-led NDA in Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections while BJD's Sujeet Kumar quit Rajya Sabha after his party was routed in elections in Odisha.

Trinamool Congress' Jawhar Sircar quit the Upper House and the party in protest against the RG Kar rape incident while BJP's Krishan Lal Panwar resigned following his election to Haryana Assembly. Panwar's seat was the lone sitting seat for BJP among these six.

With TDP-led NDA in power in Andhra and BJP in Odisha, the ruling coalition is expected to win these four seats along with the one in Haryana. If the results would go as expected, this would help the NDA cross the majority mark to touch 125 in the Rajya Sabha, with the help of six nominated members who usually toe the government line.

At present, the NDA has 120 MPs in Rajya Sabha -- BJP: 95, Nominated: 6, JD(U): 4, NCP: 3 and AGP, JD(S), MNF, NPP, PMK, RLD, RLM, RPI (Athawale), Shiv Sena, Tamil Manila Congress and UPPL one each. When the House has a full strength of 245, the majority mark is 123.

However, there are eight vacancies -- four in Jammu and Kashmir and four in the nominated category.