NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha will see the completion of tenures of its 68 members in 2024. Among them, 9 are Union ministers in the Modi government while others are holding posts in various committees. Prominent among 68 whose six-year terms will be completed are railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupendra Yadav, Mansukh Mandaviya and former PM Dr Manmohan Singh in April.
The ministers now in the Modi government are speculated to be contesting in the LS elections, so new faces will fill the vacancies in the Upper House. The election of three vacancies, emerging in January out of 68, is all set to take place in Delhi where AAP leaders Sanjay Singh, Narain Das Gupta and Sushil Kumar Gupta will complete their tenures on January 27.
The election has also been called for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Sikkim where SDF member Hishey Lachungpa is set to retire on February 23. According to official data, the BJP-ruled UP will have the highest number of 10 vacancies in the RS, followed by Maharashtra and Bihar-6 each, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal-5 each, Karnataka and Gujarat-4 each, Odisha, Telangana, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh 3 each, Jharkhand and Rajasthan 2 each and Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh- 1 each. Sources said BJP chief J P Nadda will have to look for re-nomination from Himachal Pradesh.
The retiring members include Manmohan Singh and Bhupendra Yadav (Rajasthan), Ashwini Vaishnaw, BJD members Prashanta Nanda and Amar Patnaik (Odisha), BJP chief spokesperson Anil Baluni (Uttarakhand), Mansukh Mandaviya and Fisheries Minister Parshottam Rupala, and Congress members Naranbhai Rathwa and Amee Yagnik from Gujarat. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is likely to contest from Balasore LS election.
As per official data, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, MSME Minister Narayan Rane, NCP member Vandana Chavan and Shiv Sena (UBT) member Anil Desai are retiring from Maharashtra. HRD minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP member Ajay Pratap Singh and Kailash Soni and Congress member Rajmani Patel are retiring from the Upper House from MP.