BJP may add 9 Rajya Sabha seats to its tally in June 19 polls

NEW DELHI: The BJP, which saw a dip in strength from 81 to 75 in Rajya Sabha after biennial polls in March, is likely to add nine seats to its current tally after June 19 polls, taking the total count of NDA’s seats to 100 making it fairly secure in terms of passing legislations as it will need just 22 more votes for a simple majority.
Though NDA would still be 22 seats less than the majority mark in the House of 242, any legislative move of the ruling alliance will, however, not be impacted in the monsoon session as four nominated members and the friendly parties such as AIADMK, BJD, YSRCP and TRS may invariably be on board.

The Modi government had in any case broken the Rajya Sabha jinx with the passage of the triple talaaq and the nullification of Article 370 bills but the numbers will enhance confidence of NDA managers that the Upper House will not upset the legislative applecart.
A total of 24 seats will go to polls on June 19. While elections to 18 got deferred in March due to Covid-19 situation, six others are those which are going to be vacant in the next 40 days – one each in Arunachal Pradesh (June 23) and Mizoram (July 18), and four in Karnataka (June 25).
The gain of nine seats to BJP will bring its total tally in the Upper House to its highest ever mark of 84 while the other big party Congress may see its current tally reduced from 39 to 37 in the June 19 polls.
The current situation where Congress is struggling to keep its flock together in Gujarat, it appears that BJP may bag three of the four seats in the state.
Besides four seats each from Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the other 12 seats are to be filled from Madhya Pradesh (3), Rajasthan (3), Jharkhand (2) and one each from Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
The party-position in these states’ assemblies indicate that the BJP may get two of the three seats from Madhya Pradesh and one each from Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.