In the recent Assembly elections, the BJP won in four of the five states. Now the BJP is trying to get a majority in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections to be held on 31st March. Congress has also made strong preparations for the election. Elections for 13 seats will be held on March 31 in Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tripura and Punjab.
Assam: Rajya Sabha MPs Rani Narah and Ripun Bora's seats will become vacant on April 2. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma has said that the BJP-led NDA will win both the seats in Assam. The BJP has fielded Pabitra Margherita, while the United People's Party (Liberal) has fielded Rwngwra Narzary. Congress, on the other hand, has fielded Ripun Bora.
The Congress needs 42 votes from Assam to retain its Rajya Sabha seat. With 28 MLAs from Congress, 15 MLAs from AIUDF, 1 MLA from CPM, Congress has claimed the support of 44 MLAs. The BJP claims that many opposition MLAs will vote for their ally UPPL candidate and both the seats will go to the NDA.
Himachal Pradesh: BJP's Rajya Sabha candidate with 43 seats in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly and former Vice Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) Prof Sikandar Kumar has been elected unopposed. Because Congress did not field any candidate against him.
Kerala: In Kerala, polling will be held for three seats and Congress has fielded JB Mather as its Rajya Sabha candidate, while the ruling LDF has fielded CPI (M) state committee member A. Rahim and CPI leader P Santosh Kumar. With the LDF having 99 seats in the 140-member assembly, the LDF is likely to win two seats and the Congress one, according to sources.
Nagaland: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader S Phangnon Konyak won the Rajya Sabha seat from Nagaland unopposed. Konyak is the Mahila Morcha president of BJP's Nagaland unit. It is pertinent to mention that Konyak has become the first woman MP and the first Rajya Sabha MP for the BJP from Nagaland.
Tripura: Incumbent MP Jharna Das Vaidya will retire on April 2. The BJP in the state has fielded its state president Dr. Manik Saha. The Left Front has fielded senior CPI (M) leader Bhanu Lal Saha. The BJP, which has 40 seats out of 60, is likely to win the only Rajya Sabha seat.
Punjab: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made a clean sweep in Punjab after winning 92 of the 117 Assembly seats. All five Punjab Rajya Sabha candidates have been elected unopposed. Harbhajan Singh, senior party leader Raghav Chadha, IIT professor Sandeep Pathak, educationist Ashok Kumar Mittal, and industrialist Sanjeev Arora. As on date, all of them stand unopposed.