Regional parties may be biggest gainers in upcoming RS elections

NEW DELHI: The biggest gainers in the upcoming elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats will likely not be the Bhartiya Janata Party(bjp) but regional parties. An analysis of seats that will go to polls on June 10 in 15 states shows that regional parties such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the YSR Congress Party and the Aam Aadmi Party(aap) stand to gain by increasing their tally from the current 25 to 27 seats out of 57.

The BJP is the biggest bloc in the house of 250 members with 95 current members. In 2014, it had 46 seats in the upper house but has since steadily increased its strength and is expected to touch 100 later this year. But in the coming round, its tally will decrease from 24 of the 57 seats to 22. The decrease of seats will be seen in states such as Andhra Pradesh where it will go from two seats to nil, Rajasthan, where it will halve from four to two, and Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand where it will lose one seat each.

The Congress, which boasted 68 seats in the Rajya Sabha in 2014 is now down to just 24.

The real trend is the growing regional representation.

“Regional parties are poised to take a good share of seats in 2024 not only because there will be double anti-incumbency against the BJP but also because of the alternative politics they represent,’’ said a spokesperson for the DMK, Manuraj Shunmugasundaram. “DMK, TMC, NCP, Shiv Sena, RJD, TRS, SP, AAP, Communist Parties and others are naturally aligned on the secular - development - federal plane. The trend, as seen in state elections -- especially states which are medium and large-sized and are not dependent on Union Government grants -- is that there is a largescale distrust of the BJP.’’

In Andhra Pradesh, out of the four seats that are going to the polls, the BJP will lose the three it currently holds. The YSRCP’S sweeping victory in 2019 means that all four seats will go to it now. Similarly, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) will continue its domination over both the seats that are going to the polls, just like Biju Janata Dal (BJP) will continue to hold all three seats. In Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will improve their its tally from one seat to two and AAP will win both the seats in Punjab that were previously held by Congress and Akali Dal. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has decided to give its seat to Congress; this seat is currently held by the BJP.

The only regional party which will see its presence fading (in terms of seats in the upper house) is the Bahujan Samaj Party. Out of the 11 seats in UP, it held two and will now lose both.