Four nominated members of the Rajya Sabha from the Bharatiya Janata Party retired on Saturday, leaving the National Democratic Alliance 13 seats short of the majority mark in the Upper House of Parliament, reported The Times of India.
The total number of seats in the Upper House is 245, but the current strength is 226 due to 19 vacancies. The number required to achieve the majority is currently 113.
The four nominated members who completed their terms are Rakesh Sinha, Ram Shakal, Sonal Mansingh, and Mahesh Jethmalani, reported NDTV. They were chosen as non-aligned members by President Droupadi Murmu on the advice of the BJP and subsequently formally allied with the ruling party.
Their retirement has reduced the BJP’s strength in the Rajya Sabha to 86 and that of the NDA to 101.
The Opposition INDIA bloc has 87 members in the Rajya Sabha. Twenty-six of them come from Congress, while the Trinamool Congress has 13 members. The Aam Aadmi Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have 10 members each in the Upper House.
The rest of the MPs are either non-aligned nominated members or independent members, or belong to parties that are neither part of the NDA nor the INDIA bloc. The NDA government, however, can get bills passed with their support in the upcoming Budget session of Parliament.
On June 24, the Biju Janata Dal said that it would no longer give issue-based support to the Bharatiya Janata Party and would instead act as a vibrant and strong Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
The Odisha-based party did not win any seats in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election. However, it has nine MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
Of the 19 vacant seats in Parliament, four are each from Jammu and Kashmir and nominated members. Ten seats became vacant after the members were elected to the Lower House in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
The remaining seat was left vacant due to the resignation of a Bharat Rashtra Samithi member K Keshava Rao who joined the Congress on July 5.
The elections for these 19 seats will be held in the coming months.
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