The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) reached the majority mark in the Rajya Sabha today, as nine members from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and two from its allies were elected unopposed in by-elections for the upper house. With this, the BJP’s tally has risen to 96 seats, bringing the NDA’s total strength to 112 members in the Rajya Sabha.
In addition to the BJP members, three other candidates were elected unopposed, including one each from the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Rashtriya Lok Manch (RLM). The ruling alliance also enjoys the support of six nominated members and one independent member.
On the other side, the Congress saw one of its members, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, elected unopposed from Telangana, raising the opposition’s numbers in the Rajya Sabha to 85.
The Rajya Sabha, which has a total of 245 seats, currently has eight vacancies—four from Jammu and Kashmir and four nominated seats. With the present strength of 237 members, the majority mark stands at 119.
The BJP candidates who were elected unopposed include Mission Ranjan Dass and Rameshwar Teli from Assam, Manan Kumar Mishra from Bihar, Kiran Chadhary from Haryana, George Kurien from Madhya Pradesh, Dhirya Sheel Patil from Maharashtra, Mamata Mohanta from Odisha, Ravneet Singh Bittu from Rajasthan, and Rajeev Bhattacharjee from Tripura.
In addition to Singhvi from the Congress, NCP’s Nitin Patil from Maharashtra and RLM’s Upendra Kushwaha from Bihar were also elected unopposed.
Achieving a majority in the Rajya Sabha, which the NDA has been striving for over a decade, is expected to ease the passage of contentious bills. In the past, a strong opposition presence in the upper house has often stalled significant government legislation. Some bills were passed with the assistance of non-aligned parties like Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal and YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress. However, with both parties having lost power in their respective states—one to the BJP and the other to its ally Chandrababu Naidu—their support can no longer be assured.
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