Which major bills of BJP got easier due to majority in Rajya Sabha?

In Rajya Sabha too, BJP-led NDA has touched the majority mark. In the by-elections on 12 seats in 9 states, all Rajya Sabha candidates have been elected unopposed. NDA has captured 11 seats and Congress has captured one seat. 9 members of BJP, 1 of NCP (Ajit Pawar), 1 of Rashtriya Lok Morcha (Upendra Kushwaha) and 1 of Congress have been elected. With this, NDA will not have to depend on other parties to get important bills passed in Rajya Sabha. With NDA getting a clear majority in Rajya Sabha, the government will be successful in getting major laws like Waqf (Amendment) Bill approved.

NDA has achieved majority in Rajya Sabha for the first time. Eight more seats are still vacant in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. Four of these seats are to be filled from Jammu and Kashmir and four from nominated members. The current membership of the House is 237 and the majority figure is 119. Currently, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has a total of 112 members in Rajya Sabha. With the support of six nominated members and one independent member, this figure has reached 119. That is, NDA has touched the majority figure.

The number of BJP members increased to 96

The number of BJP members has increased to 96. At the same time, the number of Congress members has now increased to 27. Its allies have 58 more members, which increases the number of opposition alliance to 85. YSR Congress Party with 11 members and BJD with eight members are not part of any alliance. The tenure of the elected outgoing members will be till 2028.

Who all got elected to Rajya Sabha?

The members who have been elected to the Rajya Sabha include BJP’s Mission Ranjan Das and Rameshwar Teli from Assam, Manan Kumar Mishra from Bihar, Kiran Chaudhary from Haryana, Union Minister George Kurien from Madhya Pradesh, Dhairyasheel Patil from Maharashtra, Mamta Mohanta from Odisha, Ravneet Singh Bittu from Rajasthan and Rajiv Bhattacharya from Tripura. NCP’s Ajit Pawar faction’s Nitin Patil and Rashtriya Lok Morcha president Upendra Kushwaha were elected unopposed from Bihar. Congress leader and advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Telangana.

Now the dependence on other parties in the Upper House is over

The NDA has been trying continuously for a decade to get a majority in the Rajya Sabha so that it can end its dependence on parties like Biju Janata Dal (BJD), YSR Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and AIADMK for passing important bills. In fact, for the last few years, the opposition was dominating the Upper House. The large number of opposition parties often prevented the passage of controversial government bills. The government has passed many bills with the help of Naveen Patnaik’s party BJD and YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress. However, now the political situation has changed. BJD in Odisha and YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh are out of power. Both the states are ruled by BJP and NDA. In such a situation, there is doubt about the support of both the parties in the House.

Along with this, the good news for Congress is that it will retain the post of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. 25 members are required for the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. Congress has two more members than the majority.

It became easier for NDA to get the bill passed in Rajya Sabha as well

The party leaders are elated as the BJP-led NDA has got a clear majority in the Rajya Sabha after the Lok Sabha. With a clear majority in the Rajya Sabha, the NDA government will be successful in getting major laws like the Waqf (Amendment) Bill approved. Recently, during the budget session, the Oil Sector (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024 and the Boilers Bill, 2024 were introduced in the Rajya Sabha. Both these bills are yet to be approved by the Upper House. In this budget session, the Rajya Sabha has approved the Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation (No. 3) Bill, 2024, Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, 2024 and Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2024. While the Waqf Properties (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants), Bill, 2014 has been withdrawn from the Rajya Sabha. After getting a majority in the Upper House, the NDA government will not face any difficulty in getting the bill passed.

Which are the allies of BJP in Rajya Sabha?

In the budget session, the government introduced 12 new bills including the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha. Of these, four bills, Finance Bill, 2024, Appropriation Bill, 2024, Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill, 2024 and Indian Aircraft Bill, 2024 have been passed. BJP’s allies in the Rajya Sabha include AIADMK, JD(U), JD(S), RPI(A), Shiv Sena, NCP, RLD, NPP, PMK, Tamil Manila Congress, UPPL.

Why were Rajya Sabha seats vacant?

10 seats were vacant after the resignation of Kamakhya Prasad Tasha and Sarbananda Sonowal in Assam, Misa Bharti and Vivek Thakur in Bihar, Deepender Hooda in Haryana, Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatrapati Udayan Raje Bhosale and Piyush Ved Prakash Goyal from Maharashtra, KC Venugopal from Rajasthan and Biplab Dev from Tripura. All these members have won the Lok Sabha elections. At the same time, Keshavrao of Telangana and Mamata Mohanta of Odisha resigned, after which elections were held on these vacant seats.

Who suffered how much loss in Rajya Sabha?

Before the Rajya Sabha by-election, BJP had two seats each in Assam-Maharashtra, one seat each in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tripura. BJP has gained four seats in the by-election. Congress had one seat each in Haryana-Rajasthan and RJD had one seat in Bihar. Congress and RJD have lost one seat each. Congress has won one seat in Telangana. Similarly, BRS had one Rajya Sabha MP in Telangana and BJD had one seat in Odisha. In Telangana, K. Keshavraj left BRS and joined Congress in July. While Odisha’s Mamta Mohanta left BJD and joined BJP last month.

How many members does which party have in Rajya Sabha right now?

There are 250 members in Rajya Sabha. Out of these, 238 members are elected. The remaining 12 members are nominated by the President. How many Rajya Sabha members will be there from which state is decided on the basis of its population. Currently, there are 96 members of BJP, 4 of JDU, 3 of NCP, 1 of JDS, 1 of RLD, 1 of RPI, 1 of Shiv Sena and 1 of Rashtriya Lok Morcha in Rajya Sabha. In the opposition, there are 27 members of Congress, 13 of TMC, 10 of Aam Aadmi Party, 10 of DMK, 5 of RJD, 6 of Left Front, 4 of Samajwadi Party, 3 of JMM, 2 of Muslim League, 2 of Sharad Pawar faction, 2 of Uddhav Thackeray faction, 1 of Kerala Congress (M), 1 of MDMK. At the same time, there are 8 members of BJD, 4 of AIDMK, 4 of BRS, 11 of YSRCP, 1 of Assam Gana Parishad, 1 of BSP, 1 of Mizo National Front, 1 of NPP, 1 of PMK, 1 of TMC (M), 1 of UPP (L). The number of nominated is 6. The number of independents and others is 3.