New Delhi : The gap is only 4 seats. The BJP-led NDA is on the threshold of majority in the upper house of Parliament. Narendra Modi-Amit Shah won’t have to wait for parties like BJD, YSR Congress to pass any controversial bill if they get those four seats.
BJP is currently the largest party in the Rajya Sabha. BJP’s Member strength in Parliament will stand at 97 after the new members take oath. And the number of MPs of NDA will increase to 117. Now Rajya Sabha has 240 members. As a result, 121 votes are needed for majority. That means Modi Government is four seats away from majority. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat said that though the Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245, four seats in Jammu and Kashmir have remained vacant for the past few years due to President’s rule. Besides, the post of one presidential nominee is also vacant. Congress is second in the list. Their membership is now 29.
The ruling alliance did not have enough seats in the Rajya Sabha even though the NDA had a huge majority in the Lok Sabha during the two terms of Narendra Modi’s tenure. The Upper House of Parliament is likely to fall short of the desired number this time. BJP won 30 of the 56 seats in the Rajya Sabha polls this week. Rulling Government’s alliance candidates won 10 of the 15 constituencies held in three states recently. In this, BJP managed to capture two additional seats due to ‘cross voting’ in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
After winning power in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh last December, Nitish Kumar returned to power in Bihar, the BJP leadership hopes that the NDA will be able to achieve a majority in the Rajya Sabha elections next year itself. One BJP’s Senior leader said, “Even though the party had a majority in the Lok Sabha, it did not have majority in the Rajya Sabha yet.” As a result, it had to rely on the support of other parties in some cases, especially in passing controversial bills. Hopefully, it won’t be needed after this year”.
