After its emphatic victory in the Assembly elections, the BJP is also likely to win a lion’s share of the Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan.
The tenure of three Rajya Sabha members from state is getting over in April next year. With 80 per cent majority in the state Assembly, the BJP is likely to take lead on all these three seats. The candidates for Rajya Sabha are elected by the legislative assembly of states and Union Territories (UTs) by means of single transferable vote through proportional representation and BJP has 163 legislators out of total strength of 200.
On April 9, 2014 three Rajya Sabha members from the state, including BJP’s Om Mathur, Gyan Prakash Pilania and Congress party’s Prabha Thakur will complete their tenure and fresh elections will take place on these seats. Mathur may be repeated this time also by the party but chances of Gyan Prakash Pilania are very rare as his son Naveen Pilania went rebel was responsible for the defeat of BJP’s candidate from Amber constituency.
“With so much of majority in state Assembly, the Rajya Sabha elections will be an easy victory for BJP,” said Omkar Singh Lakhawat, vice-president of the BJP.
After that, in July 2016 four more seats will get vacant when leaders like Ashk Ali Tak, Anand Sharma, Ram Jeth Malani and Vijendra Pal Singh will complete their tenure. Going a little ahead in April 2018 four more members including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Narendra Bhudania, and Bhupendra Yadav will complete their tenure. Out of 10 Rajya Sabha seats in state, BJP may lead with majority in the 14th state Assembly, where BJP has 80 per cent of the legislators, will stand till December 2018. In such a situation party will take the lead in the Rajya Sabha on the basis of its strength in state Assembly.
