The elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on June 10, the Election Commission announced on Thursday. These seats are spread across 15 states and Union territories (UTs), including Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, among others.
Eleven of these 57 seats lie in Uttar Pradesh, followed by six each in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Thirteen Rajya Sabha seats had went to polls in April this year, in which the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party bagged five seats each, LDF two seats whereas the Congress could win just one seat.
The BJP reached the 100-mark in the Upper House, becoming the first party to do so since 1988. The Rajya Sabha has 245 members, the majority mark stands at 123.
While the BJP is set to further increase its strength in the Upper House, the Congress is unlikely to make any gains in terms of seats till 2024. In Parliament, the Congress occupies only 10 per cent of the total seats—53 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha and 30 of the 250 Rajya Sabha seats.
Of the 65 Rajya Sabha seats that will fall vacant till March 2024, the Congress is almost certain to lose five of its existing upper house members while it may gain an equal number of seats. However, if the party can do well in the Gujarat assembly elections later this year, it has a chance of gaining a couple of seats from the state in August 2023.