NEW DELHI: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s strength in the Rajya Sabha has decreased to 86 after four of its members completed their terms on July 13. This marks the first decline for the BJP in several years.
The NDA coalition, led by the BJP, now holds 101 seats, which is below the majority mark of 113 in the 245-member Upper House. However, the NDA has the support of the seven remaining nominated MPs and an independent member.
The members who have completed their terms are 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 subsequently formally allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The Congress-led INDIA bloc holds 87 seats, with the Congress having 26, Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress 13, and the Aam Aadmi Party and the DMK, in power in Delhi and Tamil Nadu, each having 10.
Parties not aligned with either the BJP or the Congress, such as former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s BRS, nominated MPs, and independents hold the remaining seats.
The BJP’s reduced strength in the Rajya Sabha means the government remains reliant on non-NDA parties, such as former ally AIADMK of Tamil Nadu and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party, as well as others, like nominated MPs, to pass bills in the Upper House. This will be the case until the BJP can fill the four nominated seats and elections for 11 vacant seats, due this year, are completed.
The BJP is likely to win at least eight of these seats.
As of now, the BJP needs 15 votes from NDA parties and 12 additional votes to pass bills. Seven of those 12 could come from the remaining nominated MPs.
Jagan Reddy’s YSRCP has lent issue-based support to the BJP in the past. Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD provided similar support, but since being defeated by the BJP in the May-June state Assembly election, has stated it will not do so now. The BJD has nine Rajya Sabha MPs.