NDA's Seat Strength In Rajya Sabha Goes Down To 101, Below Majority Mark

The BJP’s strength in the Rajya Sabha has reduced after four nominated members - Rakesh Sinha, Ram Shakal, Sonal Mansingh, and Mahesh Jethmalani - completed their term. Earlier, all four members were chosen as non-aligned members by President Droupadi Murmu on the advice of the ruling party.

Later, all the four formally allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

With the retirement of above four members from Rajya Sabha, the BJP's strength has gone down to 86 and that of the party-led National Democratic Alliance to 101, which is below the current majority mark of 113 in the 245-member House.

The current strength of the Rajya Sabha is 225.

The Congress-led INDIA bloc has 87, of which the Congress has 26, TMC 13, and the AAP and the DMK, in power in Delhi and Tamil Nadu, have 10 each.

There are parties including BRS which are not aligned with either the BJP or the Congress in Rajya Sabha, while the nominated MPs and independents hold the rest.

The reduced seat count of BJP in Rajya Sabha now means that the government is now reliant on non-NDA parties. The parties including AIADMK of Tamil Nadu and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress Party will now have a role to play in passing the bills in the Upper House.

Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's BJD lent similar support too but, since it was beaten by the BJP in the May-June state election, has said it will not do so now.

Besides, the BJD has nine Rajya Sabha MPs. If the AIADMK is unwilling to offer support, and the BJD of Naveen Patnaik has turned away, the BJP will then turn to votes from nominated members. There are a total of 12 nominated members in the Rajya Sabha.

Non-aligned parties like the BRS, which has four MPs, and independents may also come into play.