The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been aiming at gaining a majority in the Rajya Sabha for quite some time now, is all set to get a major shot in the arm. Eleven Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant on 25th November, for which the Election Commission has announced polls on November 9. Ten of these seats come from Uttar Pradesh alone, while one seat from Uttarakhand is already bound to go to the BJP’s kitty. The state of Uttar Pradesh holds the key to BJP nearing its ultimate goal of having a majority in the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP is all set, subsequent to the declaration of results on the said 11 seats, to cross the 90-seats mark in the country’s upper house on its own, which will be the best tally the saffron party ever had in the House of Elders. Analysts believe that winning eight seats from Uttar Pradesh will be a cake walk for the BJP, and one seat coming towards it from Uttarakhand is already a given. Nine seats assured from the two states, the BJP in Uttar Pradesh will be left with 24 votes to spare, and if it puts a bit of effort on that front, it might just end up winning another seat from UP.
That would take the BJP’s victory toll in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections touch the 10-seat mark. Already, the party has 86 seats in the Rajya Sabha, of which terms of three members – Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Arun Singh and Neeraj Shekhar are ending on November 25, due to which they would be facing the upcoming polls as incumbents. With a victory on 9 seats assured, the BJP’s tally in the Rajya Sabha would shoot up to 92. Another addition from Uttar Pradesh would make BJP have 93 seats in the Upper House.
This is a crucial juncture for the BJP. With over 90 seats in the Rajya Sabha to its own credit, the BJP can now look to push forward ideologically crucial legislations through the Parliament. While the Uniform Civil Code is a promise which the BJP has committed itself to time and again, anti-conversion laws and other core ideological issues will also, in all likelihood, be dealt with in the very immediate future, given the party’s newfound strength in the Rajya Sabha, which has historically remained a weak spot for the BJP.
Even in Prime Minister Modi’s first term from 2014 to 2019, the BJP government had to suffer some severe legislative roadblocks in the Rajya Sabha. With renewed strength in the country’s Upper House, there is no stopping the saffron party from going forward with its core agenda legislatively.