The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) strength in the Rajya Sabha has dropped to 86 after four of its members completed their terms on July 13, marking the first decline in several years.
BJP in Rajya Sabha
The departing members were Sonal Mansingh, Mahesh Jethmalani, Rakesh Sinha, and Ram Shakal. They were nominated by President Droupadi Murmu as non-aligned members on the advice of the ruling party and later formally allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
With their exit, the BJP’s strength in the upper house has decreased to 86, while the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) now holds 101 seats. This is below the current majority mark of 113 in the 245-member House.
The BJP-led NDA expects to secure two seats each in Bihar, Maharashtra, and Assam, as well as one seat each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Tripura, leveraging their numerical advantage over the opposition.
The four newly nominated members are also anticipated to align with the treasury benches once appointed by the government. Although nominated members are usually independent in terms of their party affiliation, they traditionally support the government’s agenda.
There are currently 19 vacancies in the Rajya Sabha, and the Congress is looking to win the lone seat in Telangana at the expense of the BRS. However, this gain will be offset in Rajasthan, where the BJP, which holds a strong majority, will likely secure the seat vacated by K C Venugopal, a senior opposition member who won the Lok Sabha poll from Alappuzha in Kerala.
The BJP is also confident of winning the solitary seat in Haryana, where a poll will be held to fill the vacancy caused by the election of its Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda to the Lok Sabha.
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The Congress, however, hopes that a few MLAs, who are either independent or affiliated with regional parties and are seeking political alternatives ahead of the assembly polls expected in October, may switch sides and help make it a contest.
The Election Commission (EC) has yet to announce the date for elections to fill the 11 vacancies created by the resignation of members. Ten of these members were elected to the Lok Sabha, while one MP, K Keshava Rao of the BRS, quit after joining the Congress.
Out of the total 19 vacancies in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, four are from Jammu and Kashmir, where there is no assembly currently after the erstwhile state was made a Union Territory in 2019.
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