Rajya Sabha to elect 53 new MPs, but BJP will remain in the Opposition

2016-05-13
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The Opposition will continue to enjoy a majority and the best for the government is to try and win over some of the unattached parties like the AIADMK, BJD, Trinamool Congress, SP and the BSP. The Rajya Sabha will wear a new look come the monsoon session of Parliament, with several new faces making it to the House. The composition of the House however will only change marginally with the BJP and its allies likely to gain a few seats, but the gains will not be sufficient to tilt the balance in its favour. The government will continue to be in a minority and will continue to struggle to get crucial legislations passed in the upper house without the help of the Opposition. Currently the NDA has 62 MPs in the Upper House, if you add the 7 nominated MP's its number goes up to 69. The Congress alone has 61 MPs and coupled with its allies it commands the support of 80 MP's in a house of 225, while the unattached parties together account for 90 MP's. On the 30th June, one third of the Rajya Sabha MP's will retire, as is the norm. Rajya Sabha MP's unlike their counterparts in the Lok Sabha have a term of 6 years and every two years one third of the members retire. hat however is unlikely the change the arithmetic of the House significantly. The Opposition will continue to enjoy a majority and the best for the government is to try and win over some of the unattached parties like the AIADMK, BJD, Trinamool Congress, SP and the BSP. While the support of these parties can help pass legislations that require only a simple majority, however on constitutional amendment bills like the GST the government will still fall short of the two thirds majority required for its passage. The government will in fact be hard put to get a majority in the upper house during its current term. Next states like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh will go to the polls and unless the party can sweep the state, it will continue to find the going tough in the Rajya Sabha. Prominent amongst the members whose term is coming to an end at the end of June are ministers Piyush Goyal, Venkaih Naidu Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Nirmala Sitharaman, former Union ministers Praful Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Ram Jethmalani, Satish Sharma, Ambika Soni, Sharad Yadav, KC Tyagi, Pawan Verma and the BSP's Satish Chandra Mishra.


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