NEW DELHI: Victory in the Lok Sabha elections notwithstanding, the ruling NDA will find itself hamstrung while pushing crucial legislation, as it does not have the numbers in the Rajya Sabha. Not yet.
That situation could change within a couple of years if the BJP does well in the Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand Assembly polls slated for next year.
In the Rajya Sabha, the NDA currently has 99 members while the majority mark is 124. Assuming it does well in the three states, it could get a majority in the Upper House by 2021-end.
Also, states like Uttar Pradesh will contribute in a big way to the BJP’s kitty. Ten Rajya Sabha seats will fall vacant in the state in 2020. The BJP can win nine of them thanks to the party’s landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
Add to that basket the seats pooled by NDA allies like the JD(U) in Bihar, the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and 124 seats could be a breeze within two years.
The outgoing Narendra Modi government had secured the support of many non-NDA, non-UPA parties like the BJD, the TRS and the YSR Congress on several legislations.
But contentious bills like those on abolishing Triple Talaq and amending the Citizenship Act were stuck in the Rajya Sabha due to lack of support.
They eventually lapsed because of the dissolution of the Lok Sabha on Saturday.
The BJP could get even bolder if it manages to get a majority on its own in the Rajya Sabha.