Over 70 Rajya Sabha members to retire next year

Over 70 members of the Rajya Sabha are retiring next year. Prominent among them are A.K. Antony, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress party, Union ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu, Suresh Prabhu, Birender Singh, Piyush Goyal, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Nirmala Sitharaman of the BJP, Sharad Yadav (JD-U), Praful Patel (NCP), Satish Chandra Misra (BSP), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena) and Naresh Gujral (SAD).

Besides, the terms of members nominated by the President of India — Mani Shankar Aiyar, Bhalchandra Mungekar, Javed Akthar, Mrinal Miri and B. Jayashree — will also end next year. The elections will see a change in the strength of political parties in the Upper House. While the Congress’ numbers will come down from 68, the BJP could gain marginally from 48.

The terms of Congress members A.K. Antony (Kerala), Oscar Fernandes (Karnataka), Mohsina Kidwai (Chhattisgarh), Ambika Soni, Ashwini Kumar and M.S. Gill (Punjab), Anand Sharma and Ashk Ali Tak (Rajasthan), Pankaj Bora and Naznin Faruque (Assam), Jairam Ramesh and Jesudasu Seelam (Andhra Pradesh), V. Hanumantha Rao (Telangana), Vijaylaxmi Sadho (Madhya Pradesh), Dhiraj Prasad Sahu (Jharkhand), Satish Sharma (UP), E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan (Tamil Nadu), and Vijay Darda and Avinash Pande (Maharashtra) will end next year.

The BJP members retiring in 2016 are M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ayanur Manjunatha (Karnataka), Piyush Goyal (Maharashtra), Chandan Mitra and Anil Madhav Dave (Madhya Pradesh), Avinash Rai Khanna (Punjab), Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (UP), Suresh Prabhu and Birender Singh (Haryana), Nirmala Sitharaman (Andhra Pradesh), Nandkumar Sai (Chhattisgarh), V.P. Singh Badnore (Rajasthan), Bimla Kashyap Sood (Himachal Pradesh) and Tarun Vijay (Uttarakhand).

The BSP members whose term will end next year include Mr Satish Chandra Mishra, Mr Salim Ansari, Mr Jugal Kishore, Mr Narendra Kumar Kashyap, Mr Ambeth Rajan and Mr Rajpal Singh Saini (all from UP), while members of the Samajwadi Party in 2016 are Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, Mr Arvind Kumar Singh and Ms Kanak Lata Singh (UP).

From the Janata Dal (U) its chief Sharad Yadav, Mr K.C, Tyagi, Mr Pavan Kumar Verma, Mr Ramchandra Prasad Singh and Mr Gulam Rasool Balyawi are retiring.

Others whose terms end next year include Mr Praful Patel and Mr Ishwarlal Jain of the NCP (Maharashtra), Mr Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena (Maharashtra), Mr Jharna Das Baidya (Tripura), Mr K.N. Balagopal and Dr T.N. Seema (Kerala) of the CPI(M), Mr A.W. Rabi Bernard, Mr Paul Manoj Pandian, Mr A. Navaneethakrishnan (Tamil Nadu) of the AIADMK, Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Mr Naresh Gujral (Punjab) of the SAD, Mr Bhupinder Singh (Orissa) of the BJD, Ms Gundu Sudharani (Telangana) of the TDP and Mr S. Thangavelu (Tamil Nadu) of the DMK,