Maharashtra and Haryana exit polls signal win for BJP-- and that means more seats in the Rajya Sabha where Modi is still short of absolute majority

• The likely victory for the BJP and its allies in Maharashtra and Haryana is key to gaining more strength in the Rajya Sabha.
• The Rajya Sabha is the upper house of Indian Parliament where the ruling BJP government is 17 seats short of majority, after being in power for 66 months.
• Maharashtra and Haryana will have 9 vacancies coming up in April 2020 and today's victory will allow BJP to strengthen the grip in the Parliament.

After 66 months in power, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is 17 seats short of majority in the Rajya Sabha. However, the chase to the halfway mark in the upper house of Indian Parliament may be cut short by the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) splendid victory projected by all exit polls in both Maharashtra and Haryana.

The average of all exit polls in Maharashtra have estimated 218 seats for BJP and its allies including Shiv Sena, and 57 seats for Congress and its allies including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In Haryana, BJP is expected to 63 of 90 seats in the state assembly.

Stronger the victory at the state level, more seats a party can bag in the Rajya Sabha. The two states, Maharashtra and Haryana, will have 9 vacancies coming up in April 2020 and the thumping victory in the two state elections will allow BJP to strengthen the grip in the Parliament.

Upcoming Rajya Sabha vacancies from Maharashtra

Name	Party	Retirement Date
Amar Shankar Sable	Bharatiya Janata Party	April 2, 2020
Majeed Memon	Nationalist Congress Party	April 2, 2020
Sharad Pawar	Nationalist Congress Party	April 2, 2020
Rajkumar Dhoot	Shiv Sena	April 2, 2020
Husain Dalwai	Indian National Congress	April 2, 2020
Sanjay Kakade	Independent	April 2, 2020
Ramdas Athawale	Republican Party of India (A)	April 2, 2020

Upcoming Rajya Sabha vacancies from Haryana

Name	Party	Retirement Date
Ram Kumar Kashyap	Bharatiya Janata Party	April 9, 2020
Selja Kumari	Indian National Congress	April 9, 2020

In addition to these nine seats from Maharashtra and Haryana, two more seats will be vacated from Jharkhand, which will go to polls in early 2020.

The Narendra Modi government has been vying for a majority in the Rajya Sabha since it came to power in 2014. The lack of absolute majority in the upper house has been a hurdle for many of its legislative agenda. It is expected that the Modi government will have complete sway over both houses of Parliament by 2021.

SEE ALSO:
Maharashtra assembly election 2019: These are the results of all exit polls
Haryana assembly elections 2019: Exit polls predict big win for BJP
Sena scion Aditya Thackeray might win his first election, says Times Now exit poll