NDA Crosses 100-Mark In Rajya Sabha, Congress Drops To Lowest Ever Tally With 38 Seats

Ruling NDA dispensation further consolidated its position in Rajya Sabha crossing the 100-mark. This comes after nine BJP candidates, including Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, were elected unopposed to the Upper House on November 2. Congress, which dominated the Upper House for a long time, is now down to 38 seats - its lowest ever tally - in the 242-member House after it lost two more seats to the BJP in the current elections. Out of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs- 10 from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttarakhand - nine were won by BJP candidates, taking the party's tally to 92 seats. NDA tally will now be 104 and it can get the support of four nominated members. The half-way mark is 121 in Rajya Sabha whose current strength is 242. Ruling alliance can also seek support on crucial bills from some friendly parties like the AIADMK with nine MPs, BJD with nine MPs, TRS with seven MPs and YSRCP which has six MPs in Rajya Sabha. These parties have been extending issue-based support to the NDA. Samajwadi Party has lost three seats in these RS polls in Uttarakhand and UP and the BSP lost one seat. With the ruling combine further strengthened, it will be easier for the government to push its legislative agenda in the Upper House, where the NDA did not enjoy a majority. Those elected unopposed included BJP's Neeraj Shekhar, Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Haridwar Dubey, Brijlal, BL Varma and Seema Dwivedi; Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav; and BSP's Ramji Gautam. Term of the newly elected members will be from November 25, 2020 to November 24, 2020.