Rajya Sabha Seats Party Wise: There are currently a total of 226 members in the Rajya Sabha. After the retirement of four nominated members, the strength of BJP has come down to 86. NDA has 101 members
Rajya Sabha News: The strength of the ruling NDA in the Rajya Sabha has decreased. Four nominated members who were part of the BJP retired on Saturday (July 13). This has brought down the number of BJP members to 86. NDA has a total of 101 members in the upper house. Due to 19 seats being vacant, there are currently 226 members in the Rajya Sabha with a maximum of 245 seats. That is, the support of 114 members will be needed for a majority.
Mathematics of seats in Rajya Sabha
There can be a maximum of 245 members in the Rajya Sabha. However, there are currently 226 members in the House. These include 101 members of the ruling NDA and 87 members of the opposition INDIA Alliance. There are 29 members who are neither part of the ruling party nor the opposition. There are also two independents and seven nominated members. The majority figure in the Rajya Sabha is 114.
To pass a bill, the NDA will get the support of independents and nominated members, taking the alliance’s figure to 110. In the upcoming budget session, the NDA will also need the support of friendly parties like AIADMK and YSRCP.
Nominated members vote in favor of the government
The President nominates 12 members to the Rajya Sabha on the recommendation of the government. Of the current nominated members, seven have kept themselves non-partisan i.e. they are not part of the BJP. However, during voting on any law, these members vote in favor of the government.
The nominated members retiring on Saturday are – Rakesh Sinha, Ram Shakal, Sonal Mansingh and Mahesh Jethmalani. All of them formally joined the BJP after being nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Another member in the nominated category is Ghulam Ali, who is part of the BJP. He will retire in September 2028.
What will happen to the 19 vacant seats?
There are currently 19 vacant seats in the Rajya Sabha. These include four each from Jammu and Kashmir and the nominated category, and 11 from eight different states (two each from Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra, and one each from Haryana, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tripura). Of these 11 seats, 10 fell vacant last month due to members being elected to the Lok Sabha. One vacancy was due to the resignation of Bharat Rashtra Samiti member K Keshav Rao. Rao later joined the Congress.
If elections are held for these 11 seats in the coming months, the NDA will probably get eight seats and the INDIA Block three seats. This includes one seat that the Congress will get from Telangana, taking the party’s tally to 27 – two more than what is required to retain the post of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha
Discussion about this post