Retirements before the 2019 Lok Sabha General Elections
Though the BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha election with a clear majority, they have been finding it difficult to pass bills in the Upper House or the Rajya Sabha. Since the members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the MLAs in states, BJP had lesser numbers than the Congress in the Rajya Sabha to start with. But with Congress facing successive defeats in various states, this scenario set to change in the coming years. The previous set of elections in May 2016 in the five states of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam & Puducherry did not help the BJP in increasing its tally in the Rajya Sabha. But the landslide victory in UP and other recent victories of BJP will help the BJP win a lot more Rajya Sabha seats in 2018.