The BJP has touched 100 seats in the Rajya Sabha and has become the first party to do so in the last three decades. The new tally comes after biennial elections to the Upper House in Assam, Tripura and Nagaland in the elections held on Thursday.
Dr. Sikandar Kumar, BJP candidate in Himachal Pradesh was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha. The party now holds all the state’s seats in the Upper House of Parliament. BJP’s Nagaland unit Mahila Morcha President S Phangnon Konyak was also elected unopposed to the Upper House.
BJP’s Tripura president Manik Saha also won a single Rajya Sabha seat, becoming the first BJP member from the state in the Upper House.
The saffron party and its ally United People’s Party Liberal won two seats in Assam, where polling was held recently. For the first time, Congress will not have any Rajya Sabha MP from Assam.
With the increasing strength of the BJP and the NDA in the Upper House, the government bill is also likely to be passed easily in the Parliament.
Though the BJP has touched a century, its hold on the triple figure may weaken as elections for around 52 more seats will be held soon and the numbers are expected to decline from states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra. Rajasthan and Jharkhand.
jolt to congress
After the biennial elections to the Upper House, the strength of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha will be reduced. What is most worrying for the party, however, is the shrinking presence of the oldest party in the states. The Congress will not have any representatives in the Rajya Sabha from 17 states and union territories.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the party’s strength in the Rajya Sabha stood at 33 at the end of March. Now, four members have already retired and nine more will retire in the coming months. After the recent voting in the Upper House, the party’s tally will come down to 30.
What do the numbers suggest?
Elections in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh later this year and Karnataka next year will also be crucial for the Congress to increase its numbers in the Rajya Sabha.
Despite falling far short of a majority in the 245-member House, the BJP’s numbers continued to grow as Prime Minister Narendra Modi led it to a majority in the Lok Sabha in the 2014 elections. The strength of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha was 55 in 2014 and has been rising steadily since then as the party has won power in several states.
The last time a party had 100 or more seats in the Upper House, the then ruling Congress had 108 members before a steady decline in 1990. Its strength in the Rajya Sabha fell to 99 in the 1990 biennial elections and continued to decline as it lost a stream of states and the coalition era began and continued till 2014.
(with inputs from PTI)
read all breaking news , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.