Amid reports of cross-voting in Rajya Sabha polls, how things stood before Tuesday

Across 15 states, 56 Rajya Sabha seats are up for grabs on Tuesday. Earlier projections had suggested that the composition of the Rajya Sabha was unlikely to change significantly, despite the BJP’s decisive Assembly election victories in three Hindi heartland states in December and the changing political equation in Bihar. But in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, amid reports of cross voting, the polls may throw up a few surprises.

Heading into polling day, the ruling NDA had 109 MPs in the Upper House, 10 members short of the halfway mark in the 238 member Rajya Sabha. The Opposition INDIA bloc had 89 MPs.

Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of seats going to vote (10), followed by Maharashtra and Bihar (6 each), Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal (5 each), Karnataka and Gujarat (4 each), Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan (3 each), and Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh (1 each).

As per the strength of the Assembly, in UP, the BJP and the principal Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) both originally had adequate numbers to send 7 and 3 members each to the Upper House respectively, but this changed with the BJP fielding Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate. Now the result in 1 seat could be decided by cross-voting, and the BJP could end up picking 8 seats and the SP may be left with 2.

In Karnataka, 3 MPs from the Congress and 1 from the BJP are retiring. But after stitching up an alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) and nominating 1 of its members for a Rajya Sabha berth, the BJP has ensured a contest among 5 candidates for four vacancies. The Congress, which has 134 MLAs, claims it also has the support of 3 Independents and that 2 BJP and several JD(S) MLAs are expected to vote