The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Center has become the first party after 1990 to touch the hundred mark in the Rajya Sabha. In fact, after winning one seat each in Assam, Tripura and Nagaland in the Rajya Sabha elections, the number of members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Upper House reached 100 for the first time in history.
In the recently held biennial elections for 13 Rajya Sabha seats in six states, the BJP lost one seat in Punjab but gained one seat each in the above three states and Himachal Pradesh. Retired Rajya Sabha members from these states were from opposition parties. Members of Aam Aadmi Party have been elected in all five seats of Punjab.
Although the figures related to new members on the Rajya Sabha website have not been updated yet, but if the figures related to the recent elections are added to it, then the number of BJP members will be 100. At present, the BJP has 97 members in the Rajya Sabha.
However, despite this, the BJP is still far from a majority in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. These figures show that after the victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP’s graph has been increasing continuously.
In the year 2014, the strength of the BJP in the Upper House was 55. After that, after registering electoral victories in many states, her figures kept increasing and now she has reached hundred.
Earlier in 1990, 108 members of Congress were in Rajya Sabha. After this, the number of members of the Congress continued to decrease. It had to lose its governments in many states one by one and this affected the number of its members in the Rajya Sabha.
However, in the coming days, this lead of BJP may be put on hold as Rajya Sabha elections are due in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Jharkhand and these states are ruled by opposition parties.
BJP is likely to get an edge in Uttar Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh, 11 seats are vacant and out of these, the BJP is in a position to win at least nine. Of the 11 members retiring from the Rajya Sabha, five are from the BJP.