Amit Shah, Prasad, Kani, Irani cease to be members of Rajya Sabha

BJP president Amit Shah, Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Smriti Irani and DMK leader Kanimozhi have ceased to be the members of the Upper House of Parliament after being elected to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha secretariat said on Wednesday.

The BJP is likely to use these three vacancies to bring in leaders like its ally LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, who is not a member of any House but may become a minister in the Modi government, to the Upper House.

Paswan may get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar, from where Prasad was a member. Prasad has won the Lok Sabha elections from Patna.

Similarly, the two seats which will fall vacant from Gujarat, after both Shah and Irani got elected to the Lok Sabha, may be used for accommodating those leaders who have lost the election but may be given berth in the Cabinet.

Shah has won the election from Gandhinagar in Gujarat and Irani from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

Kanimozhi won the election from Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.