56 RS seats go to polls on Feb 27; NDA to gain 2 seats, INDIA bloc 1

The upcoming elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats across 15 states, which was notified by Election Commission on Monday, will see the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA gain two seats and members of the INDIA bloc of opposition parties, one, with regional parties being the losers. If the numbers play out as expected, the NDA will emerge with 117 seats in the Rajya Sabha, an improvement over its current strength of 115 in the 245-member house.

- Saubhadra Chatterji and Aditi Agrawal

The Election Commission will hold polls for all 56 seats on February 27, and results will be announced the same day.

Nine Union ministers are among the MPs whose term will end in April, including IT and railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw (from Odisha), environment minister Bhupender Yadav (Rajasthan), education minister Dharmendra Pradhan (Madhya Pradesh), health minister Mansukh Mandaviya (Gujarat), minister of micro, small and medium enterprises Narayan Rane (Maharashtra) and minister of state for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Karnataka). The terms of BJP president JP Nadda (Himachal Pradesh) and former PM Manmohan Singh (Rajasthan) are also ending in April.

The ruling BJP holds 28 of the 56 seats (including one seat left vacant by party lawmaker Kirodi Lal Meena who has become a minister in Rajasthan). After the elections, it will have 29 seats.

To be sure, there are significant changes at the state level.