NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Monday announced that the biennial elections to 11 Rajya Sabha seats -- 10 in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand -- will be held on November 20. With the term of the incumbents coming to an end by November 25, the poll panel has decided to complete the election process by November 22.
Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Akhilesh Das, Avtar Singh Karimpuri, Brijlal Khabri, Brijesh Pathak, Rajaram, Veer Singh (all BSP), Amar Singh and Mohammad Adeeb (independents) are retiring from the Upper House on November 10. Going by its strength in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the ruling SP is likely to win almost six out the 10 seats while the BSP and the BJP may retain one seat each. After the Rajya Sabha polls, the SP is likely to emerge as the third-largest party in the Upper House after the Congress and the BJP.
At present the Congress has 68 members whereas the BJP has 43 and 14 members belong to the BSP. And the SP has 10 members.
Rajya Sabha members are chosen by the elected members of respective Assemblies through a system of proportional representation.
It would be almost a role reversal for the SP and the BSP in the Rajya Sabha. In the 403-strong Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the SP has 224 members and the BSP has 80 members.
The BJP Rajya Sabha member from Uttarakhand, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, is retiring on November 25 and the Congress is likely to wrest the seat from the saffron party. Senior Congress leaders and former Union ministers P Chidambaram and Ghulam Nabi Azad are eyeing the lone seat from the state.
Azad, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, is scheduled to retire in February 2015.
Parl Winter Session from Nov 24
New Delhi: The month- long winter session of Parliament will begin from November 24 and conclude on December 23. The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday decided on the dates for the Winter session.It will have 22 sittings in which four days have been earmarked for Private Members’ business. The Winter session is expected to clear the pending Bills. There are 67 pending Bills.