The terms of Sharma and his Cabinet colleagues, defence minister A K Antony and sports minister M S Gill, as well as 11 other members of the Upper House run out in April. But as the Election Commission on Monday scheduled the elections for the 14 vacancies on March 26, Congress leadership was still exploring where to get Sharma's RS tenure extended.
Unlike in the cases of Antony and Gill who can get re-elected from their home states of Kerala and Punjab, Congress does not have enough strength in Himachal Pradesh -- the state the commerce minister hails from.
Congress does have the strength to get him elected from Assam -- one of the six states where biennial RS elections are due in March. However, it may not like to exercise that option for the commerce minister. Assam where the outsiders issue remains a volatile one already has a so-called outsider in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as one of its representatives in Rajya Sabha.
Sharma, who enjoys the confidence of the leadership, may have to wait till June when RS elections from Congress-ruled states Haryana and Maharashtra are due.
The March 26 polls will include the by-poll to fill up the vacancy caused by the death of SP veteran Janeshwar Mishra. This spells a gain of one seat for the BSP since by-elections are decided by majority.
Others who are retiring include Naresh Gujral, son of former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, who is likely to be backed by the Akali-BJP combine yet again, and former Union minister Ashwini Kumar who seems to be in with a chance.
Of the seats falling vacant, five are in Punjab, three in Kerala, two in Assam and one each in Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura.
Others who would be retiring are Silvius Condpan and Syeda Anwara Taimur (from Assam), Abdul Wahab Peeve and A Vijayaraghavan (Kerala), Khekiho Zhimomi (Nagaland), Matilal Sarkar (Tripura), Dharam Pal and Varinder Singh (Punjab). According to the schedule, the notifications would be issued on March 9. The last date for filing nominations would be on March 16 and the scrutiny the following day. The last date for withdrawal of nominations would be on March 19.
