After winning one seat each in Assam, Tripura, and Nagaland in Thursday’s elections, the BJP became the first party in Indian history to have 100 members in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP lost one seat in Punjab in the recently held biennial elections for 13 Rajya Sabha seats in six states, but won one seat each in three northeastern states and Himachal Pradesh. The five members who were voted out were all from opposition parties.
Punjab’s AAP won all five seats.
The Aam Aadmi Party won all five seats in Punjab. The new list has yet to be announced on the Rajya Sabha website. The BJP’s tally will reach 100 if the three seats it won in the new elections are added to the 97 seats it already has. Despite falling far short of a majority in the 245-member Rajya Sabha since Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a majority in the Lok Sabha in 2014 elections, the BJP’s membership continues to grow. The BJP’s Rajya Sabha strength was 55 in 2014, and it has steadily increased since then as the party has won power in several states.
The number of Congress members was reduced to 99 in 1990.
In the 1990 biennial elections, when the number of Congress members fell to 99, a party had 100 or more seats in the Upper House for the first time. Previously, the ruling Congress had 108 members. Following the loss of state power and the start of the coalition era, the Congress continued to decline.
However, the saffron party’s hold on power may erode as polling for around 52 more seats is set to take place soon, with the saffron party expected to suffer a setback in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand. The BJP appears to be gaining little ground in Uttar Pradesh, where it can win at least eight of the 11 seats up for grabs. Five of Uttar Pradesh’s 11 retired Rajya Sabha members are from the BJP.
