Union Minister and former diplomate Hardeep Puri is expected to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh on January 16, when three Rajya Sabha members from Delhi would also get elected to the Upper House.
Puri would fill up the seat from UP vacated by former Defence Minister and incumbent Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar, according to sources in the party. Parrikar's term in the Upper House was to end on November 25, 2020.
This apart, Rajya Sabha member from Sikkim Hishey lachungpa (Sikkim Democratic Front) is retiring on February 23, 2018. An election to fill that vacancy will also be held on January 16.
Delhi was allocated three seats in the Rajya Sabha and these are currently being held by Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi and Parvez Hashmi (all Congress). Their term is ending on January 27, 2018.
With an absolute majority in the Delhi assembly , Aam Admi Party (AAP) is certain to take all three RS seats which would fall vacant by next month. The AAP is said to have short-listed a former Union Minister under the Vajpayee Government for one of the three RS seats.
The Election Commission (EC) said the three Delhi seats would be filled by holding three separate elections as each of these vacancies fell under three different cycles which were determined at the time of the initial constitution of the Rajya Sabha in 1952. It said that the Delhi High Court in 1994 dismissed a petition filed against holding separate elections for the three seats.
The notification to hold elections for the five seats - three in Delhi and one each in U.P. and Sikkim - will be issued on December 29. Voting and counting will be held on January 16.
In the last September reshuffle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inducted two non-politicians- Puri and former IAS K.J. Alphons Kannathanam - into his cabinet which necessitated their induction to the Parliament.
While Puri would now move to RS from UP next month, Alphons , Union Minister of State for Tourism, is already elected unopposed to RS from Rajasthan in the by-election for a vacant seat early this month.
His seat fell vacant after M Venkaiah Naidu, elected as India's Vice-President, resigned on August 10. Alphons was the only candidate to file his nomination papers, as the Opposition Congress did not field its candidate.
Of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan, eight are now with the BJP and two with the Congress. The term of Congress members Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Narendra Budania will expire early next year.
With a brute majority of 325 seats in UP assembly , BJP is expected to add at least eight new seats from the State next year.