14 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha:10 from BJP, 4 from Congress; Kharge and Pawan Khera among winners

Fourteen candidates were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday as no rival candidates contested against them. Of these, 10 are from BJP and four from Congress. The winners include Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Media and Publicity Department chief Pawan Khera from Karnataka. In Rajasthan, BJP leaders Satish Poonia and Alka Gurjar, along with Congress leader Neeraj Dangi, were elected unopposed. All four BJP candidates from Gujarat were also elected without a contest. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP candidates Rajneesh Agrawal, Tarun Chugh and Mahesh Kewat secured victory. Earlier, the Supreme Court postponed until Friday the hearing on BJP’s petition challenging the cancellation of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination. Congress had nominated Meenakshi Natarajan for the third seat and had sufficient numbers to support her. However, her nomination papers were rejected on June 9. Voting on 12 seats on June 18 Voting will take place on June 18 for four seats in Andhra Pradesh, two in Jharkhand, and one seat each in Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Congress is expected to win one seat, BJP eight seats, JMM two seats and TVK one seat. NDA Currently Has 149 MPs in the 244-Member Rajya Sabha In the 244-member Rajya Sabha, the NDA currently holds 149 seats. The opposition has 78 MPs, while non-aligned regional parties hold 17 seats. State-Wise Gains and Losses for NDA and Opposition How Rajya Sabha elections are held Rajya Sabha elections are different from general elections. Members are elected indirectly by MLAs rather than by the public. Elections are held every two years because the Rajya Sabha is a permanent House, and one-third of its members retire every two years. The Rajya Sabha has 245 seats. Of these, 233 members are elected indirectly by state legislators, while 12 members are nominated by the President. How the winning quota is calculated The number of votes needed to win a Rajya Sabha seat is fixed in advance and depends on the number of MLAs and the number of seats being contested. The formula is: (Total number of MLAs × 100) ÷ (Number of Rajya Sabha seats + 1) + 1 Maharashtra Example: 7 Rajya Sabha Seats Maharashtra has 288 MLAs, and seven Rajya Sabha seats were up for election. 288 × 100 ÷ (7 + 1) + 1 28800 ÷ 8 + 1 3600 + 1 3601 Since the value of each MLA’s vote is 100, a candidate in Maharashtra requires the support of at least 36 MLAs to secure one Rajya Sabha seat. ​