Opposition strength in RS to weaken further this year, Cong to lose seats

The Congress is confident of retaining nine seats on its own and winning one or two more with the help of its allies

The Opposition strength in Rajya Sabha is set to reduce further as the Congress is expected to lose some of its seats in elections slated for later this year to fill up 68 vacancies. According to sources, the Congress could lose around nine of its 19 seats that are falling vacant due to its reduced strength in some states, amid speculation that the party is contemplating bringing in some bigwigs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Randeep Surjewala, to the Upper House.

The Congress is confident of retaining nine seats on its own and winning one or two more with the help of its allies. The party is set to gain seats in states where it is in power — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The Opposition strength will fall after elections are held to fill up 68 vacancies in April, June and November, that may lead to the ruling NDA slowly inching towards the majority mark of in the Upper House, sources say. While 51 seats in Rajya Sabha are falling vacant in April, five more in June, one in July and 11 in November this year.

Top Congress leaders Motilal Vora, Madhusudan Mistry, Kumari Selja, Digvijaya Singh, B K Hariprasad and MV Rajeev Gowda are among the top Congress leaders whose tenures are ending in April and June. Of them, Vora, Selja and Digvijaya Singh are likely to be renominated by the party. Besides, its leaders Raj Babbar and P L Punia are unlikely to get renominated from Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, where the ruling BJP is set to make major gains. One RS seat in Uttarakhand and 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh are falling vacant in November this year.