For UP’s Rajya Sabha seats, the electoral college is such that each candidate will need 34 votes to win a seat. The Congress has 28 legislators in the state and is counting on Samajwadi Party’s promise that Sibal will get the support of six of its MLAs. But now with Ms Mahapatra’s entry, there will be a lot of uncertainty.

The SP has 224 legislators in UP assembly. That is sufficient to send six of the seven members it has fielded. The BSP has enough law makers to get its two members elected and the BJP is assured of sending one. For Ms Mahapatra to be elected, the BJP will need the support of 18 legislators from other parties. Analysts say that the Congress can get help from the BSP. After all, Mayawati’s party had helped the Congress in Uttarakhand.

P. Chidambaram has already been elected from Maharashtra. Ambika Soni and Jairam Ramesh have been re-nominated and sure to get elected. Even though Congress’s strength in the Rajya Sabha may be reduced, induction of top parliamentarians will make the party more effective. Biennial elections to 57 seats are set to reduce numbers of main opposition Congress marginally but will hardly affect the overall composition of the House, where the ruling BJP will continue to be a minority. One seat each from Rajasthan and Karnakata vacated by Anand Sharma and Vijaya Malaya will also go to poll.

The Congress will continue to remain single-largest party in the 245-member house, but the BJP will narrow the gap. The Congress number will come down from 64 to 58 while the BJP’s will go up from 49 to 52. The BJP will also get additional support of the seven new nominated members. The Opposition has used its strength to stall government’s economic reform agenda over past two years. The strength of the Janata Dal (United) is set to come down from five seats to two as it now has to share seats with Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Two others nominated for Rajya Sabha election are former Lok Sabha member Pradeep Tamta, now shifted to Madhya Pradesh, and Chhaya Verma, who contested 2014 Lok Sabha election unsuccessfully, from Chhattisgarh.

The Congress has got a bonus of one seat after the Supreme Court restored the Harish Rawat’s government in Uttarakhand. However, its ally, the Progressive Democratic Front has announced its own candidate against Congress official nominee Tamta who has since been shifted to Madhya Pradesh.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who joined the BJP and the Modi government quitting the Shiv Sena, has been moved from Haryana to Andhra Pradesh. He has been assured support by Telugu Desam Chief Chandra Babu Naidu. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was elected last time from Andhra Pradesh has been shifted to Karnataka. The BJP spokesman M J Akbar will contest this time from Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, he was elected to the Upper House from Jharkhand. Vinay Shashtrabhuddhe is the third vice-president to get a Rajya Sabha berth from Maharashtra, other two being Om Prakash Mathur from Rajasthan and Purushotam Rupala (sitting) from Gujarat. Dr Vikas Mahatame, a Padma Shri and noted eye surgeon of Nagpur, is the party’s other candidate from Maharashtra besides Power Minister Piyus Goyal. Other two names announced are: Shiv Pratap Shukla from UP and Mahesh Poddar from Jharkhand.

A surprise nomination from Bihar was Gopal Narayan Singh, a former state BJP Chief, instead of Sushil Modi, who was projected as joining the union cabinet. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkatiah Naidu, who was last time elected from Karnataka, has been shifted to Rajasthan. Another Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is seeking re-election from Jharkhand instead of UP.

Another interesting leader in the fray is ebullient Ram Jethamalani, who is contesting as an independent with the support of both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav. His victory is certain. Imagine the scene in the Rajya Sabha when Jethmalani and Subramanian Swamy clash. (IPA Service)