Both the BJP and the Congress have banked on new and young faces, some of whom have been nominated by the parties for the first time.
Some analysts also pointed out that "outsourcing" political management to regional satraps such as Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Haryana may have proven counterproductive and micromanagement by the Gandhi family was needed.
The 51-year-old BJP leader Vaishnaw, born in Rajasthan's Jodhpur, is a suave and former Odisha cadre IAS officer from the 1994 batch. He managed to wrangle support from the ruling BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik despite being in the rival camp.
'MLAs said they're captive, (their) phones snatched away, there is police in front of every room. They're being followed 24X7'
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday reserved till Thursday its order on the bail pleas of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and state minister Nawab Malik seeking the one-day relief to cast their votes in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections.
The shifting of MLAs to Congress-ruled Rajasthan will allow the party to focus on drawing up its strategy for the crucial Rajya Sabha elections for which it has fielded two candidates, the source said.
The JD-S, which has 34 seats in the assembly, is not in a position to win a seat in Rajya Sabha on its own and will need support from the Congress with its surplus votes. A minimum of 44 votes are required for candidates to win. If he wins, this will be the second Rajya Sabha entry for 87-year-old Gowda, the first time being in 1996 as PM.
With the Biju Janata Dal backing the National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, the vote share of the ruling dispensation has now crossed 50 percent, virtually paving the way for her election as the first tribal President and the youngest too.
The Praja Rajyam Party headed by film star-turned-politician K Chiranjeevi on Friday indicated that it might go in for a tie-up with Congress in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh.
A day ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls for four seats from Karnataka, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday wrote an open letter to Janata Dal-Secular MLAs requesting them to cast their 'conscience vote' in favour of his party's second candidate Mansoor Ali Khan, stating that his win will be a victory of 'secular ideology' followed by both parties.
In a series of tweets, she attacked the SP accusing it of being an expert in "narrow politics".
'It is a well-thought-out decision. I feel it is difficult for him now to step back.'
All 41 candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Telangana were elected unopposed on Friday after the biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently.
Many changes are likely in the BJP and government in coming weeks.
These MLAs are: Shankarsinh Vaghela, his son Mahendrasinh, Raghavji Patel, Bhola Gohil, Dharmendra Jadeja, P K Raulji, Amit Chaudhary, Karan Patel.
Congress MP from Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh Sanjoy Singh is one of the Congress candidates who have filed nominations for the February 7 election to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka had the last laugh as it won all the three Rajya Sabha seats it had contested in, out of total of four from the state that went for polls on Friday, while the Congress managed to win only one of the two seats to which it had fielded its candidates.
Keeping in mind the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections, President Pranab Mukherjee and the Centre have decided to extend by a week the deadline to discuss the Telangana bill.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the June 21 Rajya Sabha biennial elections and made EC a party to a petition challenging the new open balloting system and the decision to do away with the domicile requirements.
He was elected as a local body councillor in 1976 in Bharuch Municipal body of Gujarat at the age of 25 years and became the political secretary of Sonia Gandhi and remained a bridge during UPA-I tenure between the party and the government.
Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar earlier said, "To ensure that BJP is not successful in its mission, 44 of us Congress MLAs are leaving from Gujarat for Bengaluru. To hide their failure, the saffron party is trying to make sure our MLAs resign by offering money and through police pressure."
Central Bureau of Investigation officers who probed cases like 2G, CWG scam and horse trading in Jharkhand Rajya Sabha elections are among the 28 from the agency awarded with prestigious the president's police medal for distinguished service and police medal for meritorious service on Republic Day.
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.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front has decided to support the Congress-nominated independent candidate for the ensuing Rajya Sabha elections in the state.
The development came against the backdrop of the ruling party accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to poach its MLAs to topple the Kamal Nath-led government, which enjoys a wafer thin majority in the House, and imminent expansion of the state Cabinet.
'Amit A Shah has assured us that the BJP will follow 'alliance dharma'.' 'If they follow it, the alliance will be intact.'
The victory of Prime Minister and Congress candidate Manmohan Singh appeared certain in the May 30 Rajya Sabha elections in Assam at the end of withdrawal of nomination papers on Thursday. At the close of the deadline for withdrawal, all the three contestants -- Dr Singh, who is the first Congress candidate, Santius Kujur, the party's second candidate and All India United Democratic Front's Aminul Islam remained in the fray.
Union Minister Kumari Selja was named the Congress nominee for Rajya Sabha elections, putting an end to speculation that former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit could be brought to the Upper House from Haryana.
He secured required 44 votes after votes of two Congress MLAs who cross-voted for BJP were rejected by EC.
Though embattled Biren Singh has survived the crisis, media reports suggest that restructuring of the cabinet will not be an easy task for him.
Congress leader and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla on Monday filed his nomination for the biennial Rajya Sabha election from Maharashtra. Apart from Shukla, Nagpur-based industrialist Ajay Kumar Sancheti filed his nomination as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, while the Nationalist Congress Party fielded party general secretary D P Tripathi, Pune NCP chief Vandana Chavan and Member of Legislative Council Prakash Binsale.
As per norms, a minister who is not a member of Parliament has to be elected to either House within six months of his or her swearing in.
The selection of Satiuse Kujur, a leader from the tea workers (Adivasi) community in Assam, as the second candidate of the ruling Congress for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha election has not gone down well with a section of senior party MLAs. PM Dr Manmohan Singh is the party's first candidate for the RS poll that will be held for two seats.
The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to break the opposition party to win the Rajya Sabha polls.
Separate teams of CBI were searching the premises of MLAs K N Tripathi (Congress) at Palamau, Suresh Paswan (RJD) at Deogarh and Vishnu Bhaiyya (BJP) at Jamtara, besides their Ranchi-based residences, a CBI official said.
The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric-JVM) has refused to support Congress in the Rajya Sabha elections if both the parties failed to reach consensus on fielding a joint opposition candidate.
Controversial businessman Anshuman Mishra, who recently withdrew his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections from Jharkhand owing to the controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Friday made sensational claims about PAC Chairman and senior BJP leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi
Independent candidate Anshuman Mishra withdrew his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections from Jharkhand on the last date of withdrawal on Thursday.
Rift in the Bharatiya Janata Party over its decision not to field any candidate from Jharkhand for the Rajya Sabha elections came to the fore on Tuesday with senior leader Yashwant Sinha saying he was "pained" by the party's support to an independent candidate and seeking corrective steps.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances