Will half a dozen ministers in the Modi government face a crucial test in 2026? What if they fail to get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha

Half a dozen ministers in the Modi government will face a test in 2026 (Photo-ITG)

Will half a dozen ministers in the Modi government face a crucial test in 2026? Their political future hangs in the balance if they are not re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.

For half a dozen ministers in the Modi government, the year 2026 will be nothing short of a crucial test. Ministers including Hardeep Puri, Ramdas Athawale, B.L. Verma, and Ravneet Singh Bittu are among those whose Rajya Sabha terms expire in 2026. If they are not given another term in the Rajya Sabha, they will likely be dropped from the cabinet.

In five days, the new year 2026 will arrive. The year 2026 is going to be very important from an electoral perspective. Assembly elections will be held in five states of the country, and there will be a fierce electoral battle for 75 seats in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament. This will not only change the composition of the Rajya Sabha but could also lead to changes in several faces in the Modi government’s cabinet.

The Rajya Sabha terms of half a dozen ministers in the Modi government will end in 2026. This list includes Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, B.L. Verma, Ravneet Singh Bittu, George Kurian, Ramdas Athawale, and Ramnath Thakur.

Of the six Union Ministers whose Rajya Sabha terms are ending in 2026, four are BJP MPs. In addition, there is Ramdas Athawale, who is a Rajya Sabha MP with the support of the BJP. Therefore, any of these ministers who are not given another term by the party will be removed from the Modi cabinet.

When are the terms of 6 ministers ending?

The terms of half a dozen central ministers in the Modi government are ending in April, June, and November 2026. First on this list is Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, whose Rajya Sabha term ends on April 2, 2026. Following him, JDU leader and minister in the Modi government, Ramnath Thakur, will complete his Rajya Sabha term on April 9, 2026.

The Rajya Sabha terms of Union Minister George Kurian and Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu are ending on June 21, 2026. At the end of the year, the terms of Union Ministers Hardeep Puri and B.L. Verma will end in November 2026. Both these members are completing their six-year terms in the Rajya Sabha. It remains to be seen whether the BJP will give them another opportunity.

Will the BJP give Athawale a third term?

Seven Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra are falling vacant in April 2026. This includes the terms of several prominent leaders, including Sharad Pawar, Priyanka Chaturvedi, and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale. Maharashtra politics has changed after the 2024 assembly elections, making it quite difficult for Sharad Pawar and Priyanka Chaturvedi to return to Parliament.

The BJP’s position in the assembly has strengthened, allowing them to easily win four seats, while Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP could each secure one seat. If all the opposition parties vote together, they might be able to win one seat.

The BJP has sent Ramdas Athawale to the Rajya Sabha twice. His party did not win a single seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, so it remains to be seen whether the BJP will give Athawale another chance. If the BJP does not send Athawale to the Rajya Sabha, will he lose his ministerial position in 2026?

Will Bittu and Kurien get another chance?

Union Ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurien were appointed ministers in PM Modi’s cabinet in 2024. Ravneet Singh Bittu failed to win his seat in Punjab in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, yet he was included in the cabinet. The BJP then made Bittu a Rajya Sabha member from a seat in Rajasthan that became vacant after Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal resigned after winning the Lok Sabha election. Now Bittu’s term is coming to an end.

Three Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan are falling vacant in June, with two likely to go to the BJP and one to the Congress. The question is whether the BJP will give Ravneet Singh Bittu another chance or not. If he doesn’t get another Rajya Sabha term, he may have to relinquish his ministerial post.

Union Minister George Kurien is a Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, and his term ends on June 26. Kurien was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh in 2024. He occupies the seat that became vacant after Jyotiraditya Scindia’s resignation. George Kurien’s ministerial position will only be secure if the BJP decides to send him to the Rajya Sabha again in 2026; otherwise, he will have to step down.

Will Nitish give Ramnath Thakur another chance?

Five Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar are falling vacant on April 9, and elections are likely to be held by March. The terms of RJD’s Prem Chand Gupta and Amarendra Dhari Singh, JDU’s Harivansh Narayan Singh and Union Minister Ramnath Thakur, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM)’s Upendra Kushwaha are ending in 2026. Of the two JDU leaders whose terms are ending, Harivansh Narayan Singh is the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and Ramnath Thakur is a minister. Nitish Kumar has given both leaders two terms each.

The political equations have changed since the 2005 Bihar Assembly elections. Both the BJP and JDU can easily win two Rajya Sabha seats each, while one seat is expected to go to the opposition. Ramnath Thakur is the son of former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur. The JDU has sent him to the Rajya Sabha twice. Now it remains to be seen whether they will send him for a third time in 2026. If the JDU does not give Ramnath Thakur another opportunity, he may have to relinquish his ministerial position.

Whose seat will be safe: Hardeep Puri’s or B.L. Verma’s?

Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and B.L. Verma, both from Uttar Pradesh, are members of the Rajya Sabha in the Modi government. Both ministers were elected to the Rajya Sabha in November 2020, and their six-year term will end on November 25, 2026. The terms of 10 Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh are expiring by November 2026, with the BJP holding eight seats and the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) holding one seat each.

The Rajya Sabha MPs whose terms are expiring in 2026 include Brijlal, Seema Dwivedi, Chandra Prabha alias Geeta, Hardeep Singh Puri, Ramji, Dinesh Sharma, Neeraj Shekhar, Arun Singh, and B.L. Verma. Professor Ram Gopal Yadav is from the SP. The BJP has a strong position in the state assembly.

Therefore, it is believed that the BJP can win eight seats, while the SP may get two. In this scenario, it remains to be seen which of the Modi government’s ministers, Hardeep Puri or B.L. Verma, will get another chance. The one who doesn’t get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha may have to resign from their ministerial post.