First-timers set to enter RS account for about 72 pc of seats being filled up

New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI): Forty-three first-timers are set to enter the Rajya Sabha accounting for 72 per cent of the vacancies being filled up, said a senior official in the research division of Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
With BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and Congress leader Digvijay Singh elected to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, the official said that with only 12 retiring members being re-elected and another seven members with past experience of the Upper House returning to the House, the collective experience of the members of Rajya Sabha will drop by as many as 63 terms.
"Against the 61 vacancies in 20 states, 42 were already elected unopposed including 28 first-timers. Of the remaining 19 vacancies, 15 first-timers are likely to enter the Rajya Sabha. While the 61 retiring members have a total experience of 95 terms ranging from 1 to 4 terms in Rajya Sabha, the winners come with a total experience of only 32 terms resulting in a decline in the total experience of 63 terms," the official said.
Prominent leaders who will enter Rajya Sabha for the first time include former union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Mallikarjun Kharge, former Lok Sabha Dy. Speaker M Thambidurai, former Congress MP KC Venugopal and former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of composite Andhra Pradesh KR Suresh Reddy.
The 12 sitting members re-elected are Bhubaneswar Kalita (for 5th term), Premchand Gupta (5th term), Tiruchi Siva (4th term), K. Keshava Rao, Biswajit Daimary and Shri Parimal Nathwani (all for the third term), Sharad Pawar, Ramdas Athawale, Harivansh, Digvijay Singh, KTS Tulsi and Ramnad Thakur (all for the second term).
Six members entering Rajya Sabha having been earlier members of the Upper House include G.K. Vasan, Dinesh Trivedi and Nabam Rabia (all for the third term) besides HD Deve Gowda and Shibu Soren.
State-wise, the four members who retired from Karnataka had a total experience of nine terms in Rajya Sabha, while new incumbents have a total experience of only one term in the upper house with the election of Deve Gowda. The other three are first-timers.
In Maharashtra, while seven members with a collective experience of 10 terms retired, the new incumbents account for an experience of only two terms in the re-election of Sharad Pawar and Ramdas Athawale.
For the 19 vacancies in Rajya Sabha, counting for which was held on Friday, there were 28 candidates in the fray of which 24 were never members of Rajya Sabha. (ANI)