This New Year, a lot of changes are going to take place that will completely change the picture of Rajya Sabha. After the biennial Presidential nominations and polls, it seems like BJP is going to enjoy quite a favorable change this year. Earlier, both BJP and Congress had 57 seats each out of the total 245 seats. However, this time BJP will emerge as the largest party with 67 seats while NDA will have 98 seats in Rajya Sabha.
Talking about the opposition, the current status of Congress with 57 seats will come down to 48. This implies that Congress and its allies will now have 63 seats as opposed to the earlier tally of 72 seats.
Evidently, the ruling party will gain a stronger position owing to the recent victories in states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and Haryana. Talking about Congress, the situation would have gone worse had it not secured a good position in Gujarat Assembly elections and its status in Karnataka.
Talking about the allies, for the ruling party, TDP will remain unchanged and JD (U) is expected to settle at 6 by losing one seat. As far as the opposition is concerned, RJD will have two more seats; TRS will go from 2 to 5 while SP will lose 5 seats.
However, these are just projected figures as the outcomes depend on the by-polls in several states that are yet to take place in Rajya Sabha elections 2018. In case a future Presidential nominee accepts the ruling party, BJP can even cross the threshold of 70 seats.
The by-elections in Uttar Pradesh are likely to be in favor of BJP as the party already enjoys a strong command over the state. The January round is likely to take BJP up to a score of 58 and Congress is expected to go down to 54 seats. BJP can win 8 seats in UP while Mayawati can come back in UP if Akhilesh Yadav chooses to transfer the surplus SP votes and Congress also comes along.
Talking about April, elections will be held for 59 seats across 16 states out of which UP will account for the biggest chunk of 10 seats. SP with currently 18 members will lose 5 seats. The Congress is likely to lose its solitary seat from UP and BSP will come down to 4 seats.
In Bihar, things will be interesting as there will be contention for 7 seats, out of which 6 are shared by JD-U(4) and BJP(2). RJD is expected to grab 2 seats while Nitish Kumar may try to split the 27-member Congress to register victory with the help of a breakaway faction and surplus votes of BJP and NDA partners.
