Amit Shah, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti 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 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.

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Similarly, the two seats which will fell 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. 

The Union Cabinet met on Friday and adopted a resolution for the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha, setting in motion the process of constituting the new House and formation of the government after the conclusion of the general elections.

PM Narendra Modi, who chaired the meeting, later met President Ram Nath Kovind and handed over his resignation at the current Prime Minister of the country and the resolution that will pave the way for constituting the 17th Lok Sabha.

(With ANI inputs)