Saffron BJP May Dominate Rajya Sabha 2021.
NEW DELHI :After securing a thumping win in the recently concluded Lok Sabha Elections 2019, The BJP-led National Democratic alliance (NDA) is likely to dominate the Rajya Sabha by 2021, which will give the government a free hand to clear legislation.
The ruling BJP won 303 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha in the national election, and along with its allies, has 353. Once the Parliament becomes their fortress, the NDA government can push for some key legislations which has been stalled otherwise because of the opposition benches.
The ruling coalition currently has 99 members in the 250-member Rajya Sabha and needs 124 for a majority. The opposition has 65 Ten seats will be vacant this year and 72 in the next.As many as 10 of the Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in 2020 are in Uttar Pradesh and the BJP’s huge majority in the state means it can win nine of those.
The BJP and its allies have won 64 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 seats; the opposition Samajwadi Party-BSP coalition has 15 and the Congress has been reduced to one.
Assembly elections are due in BJP-ruled states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year and if the party manages to retain all, it will snag more seats in the Rajya Sabha polls due next year. BJP leaders are confident that the party will extend its stupendous national election performance to the state polls.
Fifty-five of the 72 seats will fall vacant in April, five in June, one in July and 11 (including 10 from Uttar Pradesh) in November next year. The defeats in Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Dealt a severe blow to BJP’s ambitions, but they will look up their ante by claiming victory in the Haryana, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra.
The Congress will be without one of their most important cogs, as Manmohan Singh is set to retire from the Rajya Sabha next month. It will be a big setback for the party, at a time when it is going through a very tumultuous time.
Another Congress member, Santiuse Katju is also set to retire next month. Both Singh and Katju were members from Assam, and both the seats will go to BJP. One seat from Odisha and Bihar respectively will become vacant while six seats will become occupied in Tamil Nadu in July, with Congress lacking the numbers to gain even a single seat in these assemblies.
Also, parties that call themselves “equidistant” to the NDA and the opposition, like Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the YSR Congress Party have supported the government on several crucial bills.
A majority in the Rajya Sabha will be a huge win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government as tricky bills like “triple talaq” and the Citizenship Act were blocked by the opposition in the Rajya Sabha. (With Agency Inputs ).
