NDA eyes majority in Rajya Sabha after bypolls

New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA is expected to achieve a clear majority in Rajya Sabha after bye-elections for 12 seats scheduled next month, which would help the party get the nod for key legislations such as the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.

In the upper house with the current effective strength of 229, the BJP has 87 MPs and with its allies the number is 105. Six nominated members, who usually cast their vote with the government, take the strength of the NDA to 111, four short of the half-way mark of 115.

The Congress has 26 members in the Upper House and its allies add another 58, taking the opposition alliance numbers to 84. Among the key fence-sitters are the YSR Congress Party with 11 members and BJD with eight members.

Elections to the 12 vacant Rajya Sabha seats in nine states will be held on September 3. The Election Commission has announced 12 separate elections for each of the seats, handing over a clear advantage to the ruling party in the state.

The BJP and its allies are expected to win 11 of the 12 seats in the elections, which will take the NDA past the half-way mark to 122 seats in the 245-member house.

Four seats from Jammu and Kashmir in the Upper House are vacant as the Union Territory is yet to get its first legislative assembly. This reduces the effective strength of the Rajya Sabha to 241.

Ten Rajya Sabha seats fell vacant as the sitting members, including Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Sarbananda Sonowal, and Jyotiraditya Scindia, were elected to Lok Sabha.

Bypolls are also being held for two seats in Telangana and Odisha.

K Keshava Rao from Telangana resigned recently from the House after quitting the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to join the Congress while Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Mamata Mohanta resigned from her Rajya Sabha seat and primary membership of the party. She has joined the BJP.

Besides Goyal, Sonowal and Scindia, the other Rajya Sabha members who won the parliamentary polls and became members of Lok Sabha are Kamakhya Prasad Tasa (BJP), Misha Bharti (RJD), Vivek Thakur (BJP), Deepender Singh Hooda (Congress), Udayanraje Bhosle (BJP), K C Venugopal (Congress) and Biplab Kumar Deb (BJP).

The BJP's allies in the Upper House include AIADMK, JD(U), NCP, JD(S), RPI(A), Shiv Sena, NCP, RLD, NPP, PMK, Taamil Manila Congress, UPPL.