The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday notified the schedule for by-elections to fill three vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh.
The vacancies arose following the resignations of YSRCP Rajya Sabha members M Venkata Ramana, B Mastan Rao Yadav and BC leader R Krishnaiah.
Yadav and Krishnaiah resigned with up to four years left in their respective tenures while Rao had up to two years, dealing a major blow to the YSRCP, which lost three members in quick succession from the Council of States.
Currently, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led party has only eight Rajya Sabha members.
The TDP-led NDA alliance is poised to capture three Rajya Sabha seats in the ensuing bye-elections scheduled on December 20, powered by its brute majority of 164 seats in the southern state’s Assembly.
The Telugu Desam Party enjoys 135 Assembly seats followed by Jana Sena (21) and Bharatiya Janata Party (8).
N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP is expected to get a foothold in the Rajya Sabha as it currently has no representation while the YSRCP may not contest the elections as it does not have the required numbers.
For the first time in about 40 years, the TDP has no representation in the Upper House as it refrained from contesting the Rajya Sabha elections earlier this year due to lack of sufficient number of MLAs which could end soon.
The counting of votes of the bye-elections is scheduled on December 20.
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