Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination from Madhya Pradesh was rejected due to an incomplete affidavit, failing to disclose a court complaint from Telangana. BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed Congress members from Telangana provided the information, highlighting internal party strife.
Recent BJP organisational moves and Rajya Sabha nominations have sparked speculation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may soon undertake a ministerial reshuffle.
A former principal secretary of the Madhya Pradesh assembly, Bhagwandev Israni, has claimed that Congress nominee Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha poll nomination was wrongly rejected, arguing she was not required to disclose information as no FIR or chargesheet had been filed against her.
Harivansh is likely to be elected as the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman for a third term as the opposition has decided to boycott the election in protest.
According to the returning officer, former chief minister and NC president, Dr Farooq Abdullah polled 27 votes while as Mohammad Shafi Uri got 25 votes in the third and final round of elections, held through Single Transferable Vote System.
Three former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MPs, including Sushmita Dev and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday and, within hours, were named the saffron party's candidates for the Rajya Sabha bypolls from West Bengal, underlining both their political rehabilitation and the party's calibrated shift in inducting leaders from the erstwhile ruling dispensation.
Will DMK send former PM to the Rajya Sabha next month?
The Rajya Sabha elections saw several candidates elected unopposed, including Sharad Pawar and Ramdas Athawale, while Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana prepare for contested elections.
Most defections originated from three major parties -- the Congress, BJP and BSP.
Akhilesh Yadav said those who are looking for "profit" in the situation will leave.
The Congress party has strongly condemned the 'purification' of a rally venue in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, after a public meeting addressed by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, alleging it reflects an 'anti-Dalit' mindset of the BJP and RSS.
The BJP leads with 23 percent of its 90 Rajya Sabha members having declared criminal cases against themselves.
It is not in the Lok Sabha, where the BJP has a clear majority, but the Rajya Sabha that the Opposition has ganged up to checkmate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious plans.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in the four states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka was held on Friday, June 10, 2022, amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced a significant overhaul of its national team under party president Nitin Nabin, introducing numerous new faces and promoting prominent leaders like former Union minister Smriti Irani to general secretary and former RSS functionary Ram Madhav to vice president. The revamp aims to balance youth and experience while preparing for upcoming assembly and general elections.
The members, whose terms are ending, include union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan, J P Nadda, Thaawarchand Gehlot and Ramdas Athawale.
'We can never trust the BJP when it comes to elections.'
Prashant Kishor, founder of Jan Suraaj Party, secured a significant victory in the Bankipur Assembly bypoll, breaching a BJP bastion, while independent candidates sharing names with Bihar's political stalwarts, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, failed to make an impact and lost their security deposits.
All 5 candidates, three from Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United and two from the opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party, were on Friday elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed concern over the repeated disruptions of parliamentary proceedings, stating that due to the turmoil in the House, the country has been unable to listen to the talented MPs elected in recent times.
Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha Tuesday along with senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former minister Upendra Kushwaha.
Rajya Sabha MP Sukhen Shekhar Ray has resigned from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and his parliamentary seat, adding to the party's ongoing internal crisis and political turmoil.
Three BJP candidates have been declared elected unopposed in the biennial Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress party has moved the Supreme Court against the rejection of its candidate Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament for 2026 is scheduled from July 20 to August 13, with significant political developments expected following recent assembly poll results and internal party rebellions. The session will see the ruling NDA's strengthened position in the Rajya Sabha and potential redrafting of a key Constitution amendment bill.
The Congress party has formally appealed to the Election Commission, demanding an immediate reversal of the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls, labelling the decision as 'egregious' and a 'subversion of democracy'.
The announcement came on a day that marks the third anniversary of the Naveen Patnaik-led government's fifth tenure in the state.
Sunetra Pawar, wife of the late Ajit Pawar, has been unanimously elected as the leader of the NCP legislature party in Maharashtra and is set to become the state's first woman Deputy Chief Minister.
The rejection of senior Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination papers transformed what should have been a routine Rajya Sabha election into a lesson in contemporary political warfare.
As vice president and ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankar is inheriting a troubled legacy. Although the government faces no real numerical challenges in the Upper House, political and legal challenges are there aplenty.
'The made-up stories really angered me. Forget angering me, it actually made me feel, okay, if they want to play this game, let me play along.'
This is the first time that oath-taking of members will take place in the House chamber during the inter-session period so as to maintain norms of physical distancing due to COVID-19, officials said.
Following his election to the Rajya Sabha, Nitish Kumar is set to resign from the Bihar Legislative Council, adhering to constitutional requirements and prompting speculation about future political strategies in Bihar.
"The Commission is satisfied that the current election process for Rajya Sabha election from Jharkhand has been seriously vitiated and cannot be permitted to proceed," the 3-member EC headed by Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said in a 12-page order.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to get a majority in the Rajya Sabha in April this year, once the remaining six vacancies under the nominated category are filled and those newly elected take oath.
Kiren Rijiju has strongly criticised the Congress for allegedly 'unfairly disrupting' the recent monsoon session.
Gujarat Assembly has issued notification for elections to three seats of Rajya Sabha, to be held on July 22. Elections were necessitated as terms of Patel and BJP MPs Surendra Patel and Pravin Nayak would end in August.
Running a fractious House full of members every bit as well versed in parliamentary law as the chair, has, in the past, reduced several Rajya Sabha chairmen to tears.
Amid cross-voting, National Democratic Alliance-supported Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani on Thursday won one of the two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand, defeating the Congress's Pranav Jha, an official said.
Elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states will be held on Friday with the contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan promising to be a close affair between the BJP and the Congress.
The former journalist unsuccessfully contested the recent West Bengal assembly elections on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket.
