BJP drops to 86 seats in Rajya Sabha as 4 members complete terms; NDA 12 seats short of majority
All four of the retired members, were chosen by President Draupadi Murmu as non-aligned members on the advice of the ruling party.
BJP drops to 86 seats in the Rajya Sabha as four members of the ruling party completed their term on Saturday. This decline will impact their dominance in the upper house as the NDA, 12 seats short of a majority, with the alliance slipping to 101 members, 12 below the majority mark of 113 seats. BJP drops to 86 seats, impacting their leverage in the house. Meanwhile, the Congress-led INDIA bloc stands strong with 87 members in the upper house.
All four of the retired members, Rakesh Sinha, Ram Shakal, Sonal Mansingh, and Mahesh Jethmalani, were chosen by President Draupadi Murmu as non-aligned members on the advice of the ruling party.
The current strength of the Rajya Sabha is 225, which is 20 below the total capacity of 245.
The opposition has 87 members in the upper house led by Congress, which has 26 members, followed by Trinamool Congress with 13, and Aam Aadmi Party and the DMK with 10 members each. The remaining seats are held by neutral parties neither aligned with the Congress nor BJP, like K Chandrashekar Rao’s BRS.
How will it affect the ruling party?
This simply means that the ruling party will now need the support of non-NDA parties to pass a bill in the upper house. The NDA alliance is expected to receive support from seven non-aligned nominated members, two Independents, and friendly parties like YSRCP (with 11 members) and AIADMK (with 4 MPs) to pass bills in the upcoming budget session.
However, these two ‘allies’ have been in a contentious relationship with the BJP since their split in December last year, just months before the election.
BJD, led by former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is known for supporting the ruling party, has also turned their back following a defeat in the state election. BJD has 9 MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
The elections for the 20 vacant seats are expected to be held this year. Maharashtra, Assam, and Bihar have two vacant seats each, whereas Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Tripura have one seat each. NDA is the favourite to win seven of these seats in Assam, Rajasthan, Bihar, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh. And there is a possibility of two more seats in Maharashtra. However, Maharashtra has disappointed the ruling party in the Lok Sabha election.
NDA can still clinch the majority mark with a triumph in these nine seats and a little support from Jagan Reddy’s YSRCP. Meanwhile, the opposition is also looking strong in both houses.
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