Upper House

The BJP-led NDA is currently in minority in the Upper House with 97 seats, and is set to gain at least 12 seatsAround one-fifth of the seats in the Rajya Sabha will fall vacant in April, as members from across 17 states are set to retire

The meeting of the opposition parties was held with the aim of trying to retain the post of deputy chairperson of the Upper House, which fell vacant after the term of deputy chairman P.J. Kurien ended on 1 July

This has ended the long-running dominance of the opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which will slip to 17 seats

The Congress is eager to retain the seat after senior parliamentarian P.J. Kurien retires on 1 July, but this may not be easy as the party lacks the numbers in the Upper House

The Congress contests the Rajya Sabha polls even as the BJP, with the central machinery at its disposal, undermines it at every step

Opposition protests in Rajya Sabha, alleging that the Gujarat police had abducted its Congress MLA with a view to influence the upcoming elections to the Upper House

The announcement comes as the Rajya Sabha terms of several prominent faces, including Smriti Irani, Sitaram Yechury and Derek O'Brien, are ending on 18 August

Meghna Sahoo, who is an MBA by qualification, purchased the nomination form for the Rajya Sabha election from the Odisha assembly secretariat

The bicameral nature of the Parliament is likely to be interpreted as a 'basic structure' of the Indian Constitution, rendering it incapable of being amended

Somnath Chatterjee takes dig at Arun Jaitley who had dismissed Rajya Sabha as 'indirectly elected house'