With 58 seats in the Rajya Sabha one more than the Congress, the BJP becomes the largest party in the Upper House of Parliament though it still remained in minority. Sampathiya Uikey, the new lawmaker from Madhya Pradesh, has made history for the BJP by ending the Congress’ 65-year run as the Rajya Sabha’s biggest party.
The Congress may have remained the largest party till 2018, but its numbers were depleted by the death this year of two lawmakers. A big boost will come next year when the BJP will win eight of nine Uttar Pradesh seats that will be vacated, after sweeping assembly elections in the state this year. Members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by legislators in a state.
The BJP’s new partnership with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United in Bihar is expected to help too, though there has been no announcement yet of an alignment at the Centre. The JDU has 10 lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is also Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, said the BJP becoming the Number 1 party is a “natural consequence of our support base increasing”. The government was embarrassed this week when the opposition forced changes in a bill that sought to amend the constitution and so needed the support of two-thirds of the members present.
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