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Wakf Amendment Bill: The BJP-led NDA has a simple majority in the Rajya Sabha with the support of 6 nominated members. This can help the party pass major bills like the Waqf Bill.
After the recently concluded Rajya Sabha by-elections, the strength of members in the Upper House of Parliament has increased to 234, with the BJP having 96 members of its own. The NDA has 113 members. With six nominated members usually voting in favour of the government, the NDA's strength rises to 119, two more than the current majority figure of 117.
How strong is the opposition in the Rajya Sabha?
The Congress has 27 members in the Upper House while its allies have 58 members, taking the total strength of the opposition alliance in the Rajya Sabha to 85. Other parties with a large number of members in the Rajya Sabha are the YSR Congress with 9 and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) with 7. The AIADMK has 4 MLAs, 3 are independents and the other MPs belong to smaller parties that are not in alliance with the Congress or the BJP.
11 seats are vacant in Rajya Sabha
Four seats from Jammu and Kashmir are vacant in the Upper House as the Union Territory has not yet had its first assembly. A total of 11 seats are vacant in the House, including four from Jammu and Kashmir, four from Andhra Pradesh, four nominated members and one from Odisha. Two YSR Congress and one BJD member have recently resigned from the Rajya Sabha. BJD member Sujit Kumar has resigned and joined the BJP, due to which he is likely to win the by-election on this seat.
A party that supports BJP
Two members who resigned from the YSR Congress, M Venkataramana Rao and B Mastan Rao, are likely to join the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, which is an ally of the BJP. BJP's allies in the Rajya Sabha include Janata Dal-United (JDU), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Janata Dal-Secular (JDS), Republican Party of India (Athawale), Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), National People's Party, PMK, Tamil Maanila Congress and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL).