In 2024, 69 Rajya Sabha seats will fall vacant, including 56 in April before the scheduled Lok Sabha elections. Among these, bulk of the MPs whose terms are coming to an end, are from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
With 94 seats out of the 239, BJP is currently the single-largest party in the Upper House, followed by Congress with 30 seats and Trinamool Congress with 13 seats. While the BJP is likely to retain 30 of the 56 seats which will be falling vacant this April, Congress will retain its seats.
Some prominent leaders, including 9 sitting Union Ministers, Ministers of State will be retiring in April. Among those retiring would be former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, BJP President JP Nadda, RJD leader Manoj Jha, AAP leader Sanjay Singh, BJP leader Amar Patnaik and Dr. Abhiskek Manu Singhvi from the Congress.
Term of four nominated MPs also comes to an end in April and the members who will be retiring would be Mahesh Jethmalani, Rakesh Sinha, Sonal Mansingh, and Ram Shakal.
The Union Ministers in Narendra Modi cabinet whose Rajya Sabha terms will end this year are: Bhupndra Yadav, Purushotham Rupala, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mansukh Mandaviya and Natarayana Rane. Apart from them, three Ministers of State are also set to retire, they are – V Muraleedharan, Dr. L Murugan and Rajeev Chandrashekhar.
Though winning three States – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishghar and Rajasthan – may not help BJP immediately in the Upper House, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority, there will be an eventual increase in the party’s seats after the subsequent biennial Rajya Sabha polls in 2026 and 2028, as the State of Madhya Pradesh accounts for 11 Rajya Sabha seats, Rajasthan accounts for 10, Telangana for 7 and Chhattisghar has 5.
With four vacant seats from Jammu & Kashmir, two vacant nominated seats in the House of 245 members, the current strength of the Upper House is 239, as BJP is the largest party with 94 MPs, followed by Congress with 30 and Trinamool Congress with 13 MPs. While Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) have 10 MPs each, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and YSR Congress Party have 9 MPs each. Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has 7 MPs, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) 6 MPs, Janata Dal (United) and CPM have 5 MPs each.
This year, BJP will retain all its 7 seats from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and get one seat in West Bengal. Congress will gain one seat in Himachal Pradesh and 2 from the BRS in Telangana, owing to its victory in the State. The Grand Old Party will also retain one seat each from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. TMC will retain all its 4 seats from West Bengal
