BJP leader Kiran Choudhary, former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, Supreme Court lawyer Manan Kumar Mishra, renowned Kudumi community leader Mamata Mohanta, Union Minister George Kurian, nominees of BJP and NCP, Dhairyasheel Patil and Nitin Patil, Mission Ranjan Das and Rameshwar Teli and Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu were among those who filed their nomination papers for election to the 12 vacant seats in the Upper House on Wednesday.
For the BJP, the by-poll is crucial for pushing the NDA’s Rajya Sabha tally past the majority mark, a key factor in passing of Bills.
The current effective strength of Rajya Sabha is 229. Of this, the BJP has 87 MPs, with the NDA allies taking the number to 105. The support of six nominated MPs takes the NDA’s strength further up to 111, four short of half-way mark.
The Opposition has 84 members — Congress 26 and allies 58. Several of the 12 seats fell vacant as the sitting members, including Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Sarbananda Sonowal and Jyotiraditya Scindia, were elected to the Lok Sabha.
From Haryana, BJP leader Kiran Choudhry filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha by-poll on Wednesday, with some JJP rebel MLAs also extending support to her candidature. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, State BJP President Mohan Lal Badoli, several party MLAs, the party’s co-in-charge for the State Biplab Kumar Deb and some JJP rebels were among those present when Choudhry submitted her nomination papers.
Wednesday was the last day for filing of nominations for the Rajya Sabha by-poll.
The BJP named Choudhry as its nominee shortly after she resigned from the Assembly on Tuesday, nearly two months after she left Congress. She represented the Tosham seat in the Haryana Assembly.
The by-poll for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana was necessitated after Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rohtak. His Rajya Sabha term was to end in April 2026.
In Jaipur, Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu filed his nomination as a BJP candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-poll from Rajasthan.
He was accompanied by Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, Deputy Chief Ministers Premchand Bairwa and Diya Kumari, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel. Before submitting his nomination paper, Bittu, during a meeting of the BJP Legislature Party, expressed gratitude for his selection as the Rajya Sabha candidate from Rajasthan. Rajasthan has a total of 10 Rajya seats, one of which is vacant.
Of the nine seats, BJP has four and Congress has five. Bittu, grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, joined BJP in March this year and contested the Lok Sabha polls. He lost, but was appointed as the Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Railways.
Former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha and Supreme Court lawyer Manan Kumar Mishra, filed their nomination papers for the by-polls to two Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar. Top leaders of the NDA in the State, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputies, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, were present at the Vidhan Sabha secretariat during the filing of nomination papers by the two candidates. The by-polls have been necessitated by the election to the Lok Sabha of sitting Rajya Sabha MPs Vivek Thakur (BJP) and Misa Bharti (RJD). Mishra, who began his political career with the 2009 Lok Sabha election he contested unsuccessfully from Valmiki Nagar on a BSP ticket, switched over to the BJP five years later and canvassed in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kushwaha, who heads Rashtriya Lok Morcha, is seeking election to the Upper House after having lost the recently held Lok Sabha polls. He asserted that as a member of the Upper House, he will press for judicial reforms and doing away with the Collegiums System
Notably, in the last 10 years, despite enjoying a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, the NDA numbers have remained short in the Rajya Sabha compelling the Government to rely on ‘neutral’ parties such as BJD and YSRCP to get Bills passed. With the two parties having changed tack - the BJP defeated BJD in Odisha this time, and allied with YSRCP’s rival TDP in Andhra Pradesh - a boost in the Upper House will provide the NDA much-needed relief.
Renowned Kudumi community leader Mamata Mohanta filed her nomination as a BJP candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-poll in Odisha. Given BJP’s strength in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, Mohanta is well-positioned to win the by-poll and secure the Rajya Sabha seat she vacated as a BJD member on July 31. The BJP has 74 seats in Odisha Assembly, while the BJD has 51, Congress 14, and there are three Independent MLAs and one CPI(M) legislator. There are 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha of which eight are with BJD, BJP has one, and seat is vacant.
Nominees of BJP and NCP, Dhairyasheel Patil and Nitin Patil, respectively, filed their nominations for two vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra on Wednesday. The BJP nominated Dhairyasheel Patil for the seat vacated by Udayanraje Bhosale who won the Lok Sabha election from Satara constituency.
Nitin Patil is fielded by the Nationalist Congress Party led by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar for the RS seat that fell vacant after Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s election to the Lok Sabha from Mumbai North constituency. Besides Dhairyasheel Patil, two Independents have also filed nominations for the seat vacated by Bhosle and one Independent for the seat to be contested by Nitin Patil. Given the strength of the BJP and allies in the Maharashtra Assembly, both the Patils are set to win comfortably. In the 288-member House, with effective strength reduced to 274 as 14 seats are vacant, BJP has 103 MLAs, NCP 42, Congress 37, Shiv Sena (UBT) 15, and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) 10. 13 MLAs are Independents, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi 3, Samajwadi Party 2, AIMIM 2, and Prahar Janshakti Party 2. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, CPI (M), Swabhimani Paksha, RSP, Jan Surajya Shakti Party, Krantikari Shetkari Paksha, and PWP have one member each.
BJP candidates Mission Ranjan Das and Rameshwar Teli filed their nomination papers for the two seats which fell vacant in Assam. Das and Teli filed their papers in the Assembly on the last day of filing nominations in the presence of Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Cabinet colleagues, BJP State president Bhabesh Kalita and party MLAs.
