(LiveMint)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is set to improve its tally in the Rajya Sabha, winning 28 of the 59 seats that went to polls this year. Rajya Sabha election results declared Friday showed that the BJP won nine of the 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, and one each in Karnataka, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
While 33 Rajya Sabha seats witnessed no election, 26 went to polls on Friday. Of the 33 elected unopposed, 16 were from the BJP, three from its allies and five from the Congress, among others. The Rajya Sabha election results showed that incumbent regional parties in states such as West Bengal and Telangana continue to perform well.
The BJP’s performance ensures that its dominance as the largest party in the Upper House continues, though the NDA is still short of a majority. The biggest loser from Uttar Pradesh is the Samajwadi Party (SP), which had six out of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats that went to polls. It retained only one seat, that of Jaya Bachchan.