The Bharatiya Janata Party’s strength in the Rajya Sabha has reduced with the term of four nominated members coming to an end on Saturday. Rakesh Sinha, Ram Shakal, Sonal Mansingh and Mahesh Jethmalani’s terms in the upper house of Parliament expired last weekend. With this development, the number of BJP members in the Rajya Sabha has come down to 86 from the earlier 90.
The reduction in numbers has pushed the ruling NDA alliance below the majority mark of 113 in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. The NDA now has 101 members, making it harder to pass key legislations in the house that is considered difficult to overcome opposition resistance. This could compel the government to seek cooperation from other non-aligned parties like YSR Congress and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu to achieve majority on crucial bills, if the need arises.
While YSR Congress has 11 members in the Rajya Sabha, AIADMK has four members. Both parties had supported the ruling alliance in the past. The other notable group is Biju Janata Dal from Odisha with nine seats. However, its leader and former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has stated they will remain neutral after BJP defeated his party in state elections.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi, with four members, and independents will also play a crucial role. Passing of bills requires a simple majority of 123 votes in the 245-member house where voting is allowed for 238 members. The rest 12 members are nominated by the President.
In the current scenario, BJP’s dip in numbers has made managing legislative business a bit more difficult compared to before in the crucial upper house of Parliament where the opposition has more strength to stall legislation. The government will need to ramp up lobbying to ensure smooth functioning.
