54 members of the Rajya Sabha, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and nine Union Ministers, are scheduled to retire on Tuesday and Wednesday, with some not returning to the Upper House.
Former Prime Minister Singh concludes his 33-year tenure in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, coinciding with former party chief Sonia Gandhi’s debut in the Upper House. Singh, renowned for his significant contributions to economic reforms, first became a member of the House in October 1991. He served as the Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao government from 1991 to 1996 and as the Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014.
Sonia Gandhi will enter the Upper House for the first time from Rajasthan, filling the seat left vacant after 91-year-old Singh completes his tenure on April 3.
Seven Union Ministers—Dharmendra Pradhan, Mansukh Mandaviya, Purshottam Rupala, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, V Muraleedharan, Narayan Rane, and L Murugan—are concluding their Rajya Sabha tenure on Tuesday. Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will retire on Wednesday. Except for Vaishnaw, all these ministers are contesting the Lok Sabha elections and have not been nominated for another term in the Upper House.
Vaishnaw and Murugan have been granted another term in the Rajya Sabha. Of the retiring members, 49 are retiring on Tuesday, while five are retiring on Wednesday.
Among those retiring is Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan, who has been renominated to the Rajya Sabha by her party for another term. Manoj Kumar Jha, nominated by his party RJD from Bihar, and Naseer Hussain from Karnataka, have also been renominated.
Congress member Abhishek Manu Singhvi, whose Rajya Sabha tenure ends today, will not return to the Upper House after losing the election from Himachal Pradesh.
Other retirees include BJP’s Anil Baluni, Prakash Javadekar, and Sushil Kumar Modi, who have not been renominated by the party. Anil Jain and Saroj Pandey from Chhattisgarh are also retiring, as they have not been given another term by the party, with Pandey contesting the Lok Sabha election in the state.
