Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
Even though MLAs are required to show their ballot to respective party whips before casting their vote, all parties have ensured their MLAs are housed in five star hotels closer to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha where voting will take place on June 10.
Seven members of the Rajya Sabha belonging to the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Lok Janshakti Party and an independent Member of Parliament were suspended on Tuesday for the remaining part of the budget session for their unruly behaviour in the House on Monday over the Women's Reservation Bill.The suspended members are Subhash Yadav (RJD), Sabir Ali (LJP), Veerpal Singh Yadav, Nand Kishore Yadav, Amir Alam Khan and Kamal Akhtar (SP) and Ejaz Ali.
The Congress is finding it tough to accommodate defeated senior leaders in the Rajya Sabha as it does not have the numerical strength in various assemblies to win the seats.
In a jolt to Rashtriya Lok Dal, its Rajya Sabha member of Parliament Shahid Siddiqui and Anuradha Chowdhury, a former aide of party chief Ajit Singh, on Sunday joined the Samajwadi Party ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Amendments moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left to the President's address against the National Counterterrorism Center was defeated in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Raees Siddiqui, who owned a bakery at Sakinaka in suburban Andheri, had filed an FIR against Azmi, lawyer S K Dubey and three others alleging that all the five had threatened him to sign a document effecting the transfer of a property to someone else.
What lessons opposition parties need to learn post defeat of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal elections? The election saw spectacular victor of BJP which rose from 3 seats in 2016 to 206 seats in 2026 assembly elections.
A lot is riding on the Rajya sabha polls that are scheduled for Saturday. Major parties are whisking away candidates of other parties, while protecting their own, MLAs are being sent to 'camps' in the final countdown to the polls for 57 seats. Here is a state-by-state look:
The Modi government is learning to deal with the reality that it does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha.
A Constitution amendment bill providing for quota for SCs and STs in government job promotions was on Monday passed by Rajya Sabha with an overwhelming vote of 206 in the 245-member House.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was on Thursday forced to eat his words and apologise in the Rajya Sabha after he made certain remarks about Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan, triggering uproar.
Several opposition parties on Wednesday decided to jointly oppose the delimitation provisions in the Constitution amendment bill in Parliament, even as they reiterated support for women's reservation, with Mallikarjun Kharge alleging the move is politically motivated.
As Rajya Sabha bade farewell to 53 retiring members, the House saw voices against the alleged "encroachment" by judiciary on the rights of legislature
Senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha member Mohan Singh passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on Sunday after a prolonged battle with cancer.
Farhat, the PA of SP's Rajya Sabha MP Munabbar Saleem, was detained on Friday night.
Embarrassment apart, it is a reminder to the Narendra Modi government that it is in acute minority in the Upper House
On Tuesday, the government had agreed to refer it to the committee.
As polling begins on Friday for the remaining 25 Rajya Sabha seats in six states, here's a list of some of the bigwigs who are seeking to be elected to the Upper House of Parliament.
Chaudhury Mohammad Aslam, eminent industrialist Rahul Bajaj, K.P.K Kumaran and Amir Alam Khan also took oath.
The BJP-led NDA now has nearly 100 members in the 245-member House. If the support of friendly parties like the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (9), Biju Janata Dal (9), Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (6), and several allied nominated members and smaller parties is counted, then the Modi government is unlikely to face any serious numerical challenge there.
Rajya Sabha on Thursday witnessed high drama when two Samajwadi Party members were directed to leave the House for causing disruptions over a quota bill, leading to arguments and counter-arguments before all members of the party walked out.
The Lokpal Bill will come up in Rajya Sabha on Friday and is a "priority" for the government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said on Thursday.
The Samajwadi Party on Thursday said it will vote against the decision to introduce Foreign Direct Investment in retail sector in the Rajya Sabha, where the United Progressive Alliance does not have majority on its own. "We will vote against FDI in Rajya Sabha if the government brings it there," said SP's leader in the Upper House Ramgopal Yadav.
The Upper House witnessed unruly scenes, with almost entire the Opposition in its feet over alleged misuse of the Central Bureau of Investigation and demand for discussion on the issue under rule 267 suspending the listed business.
The BJP has asked for a comment from the Prime Minister on the issue. The Samajwadi Party and AIADMK are also likely to oppose the deal in the upper house.
The Congress party has accused the government of stifling opposition voices in the Lok Sabha, alleging that opposition leaders are not being allowed to express their views while the government side faces no such restrictions.
Though the Bharatiya Janata Party is not overly worried about getting the amended land acquisition bill through in the Upper House, it has nevertheless decided to have a three-day gap between the dates of the sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha for the Budget session.
The average asset of a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament is Rs 20.17 crore, says a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms. It also says that 67 per cent of Rajya Sabha MP's are crorepatis.
The government on Wednesday night exuded confidence to get the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, despite not having a clear majority.
The contentious bill will be tables in RS on Wednesday. The BJP hopes to get up to 130 votes in a 240-member upper house.
The anti-corruption Lokpal Bill was brought back to the Rajya Sabha on Friday in an amended form but its consideration was thwarted by Samajwadi Party, an outside supporter of the UPA government, which disrupted proceedings.
The government on Tuesday faced embarrassment in the Rajya Sabha when the opposition scuttled its move to withdraw three bills, including one on raising the FDI cap in insurance sector to 49 per cent, which are expected to be introduced in Lok Sabha for replacement of Ordinances.
The BJP is still short of the halfway mark of 123 in the 245-member House, but can now muster a 'working' majority with help of allies, friendly parties, some Independents and nominated members.
Amid disruptions in the Lok Sabha, opposition parties are protesting the denial of speaking rights to the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, during discussions on the President's address. The Congress party draws parallels to a similar incident in 2004 when then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was prevented from speaking.
A day after the Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail got the approval of the Lok Sabha as the opposition motion seeking immediate withdrawal of the decision was rejected convincingly as the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party walked out, the Rajya Sabha will debate and vote on the issue over the next two days starting Thursday.
Its electoral triumphs in assembly polls, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, have made the BJP the single-largest party in the Rajya Sabha.
Four Samajwadi Party MLAs who cross-voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the February 27 Rajya Sabha elections have been allocated Y-category security, a senior government official said on Sunday.
Angry members of the Congress and other opposition parties forced adjournments of the proceedings as they questioned the NOTA provision for these elections.
Senior SP leader Mohan Singh on Monday said that his party will oppose the bill seeking to provide quota in promotions. He said: "The Supreme court has denied an approval thrice, but the government is still after making a bill on it. We will oppose it." Voting is likely to take place on the quota bill at around 5 pm in the Rajya Sabha.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances