NEW DELHI: Even as the Centre is exploring the possibility of reintroducing the delimitation bill in the Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA is still far from touching the magic figure of 362, despite the likely TMC switchover.
To pass constitutional amendment bills, the government needs the support of at least two-thirds of members present and voting in both Houses of Parliament. Sources say the government is keen to pass the delimitation bill to implement women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha ahead of the 2029 general election.
The NDA will need 362 to get a two-thirds majority in a house of 543 members. While the NDA alliance has 293 members, its strength could rise to 313 if 20 rebel TMC MPs form a separate group and extend support to the government.
However, the NDA still needs 49 votes for a two-thirds majority. In the previous Budget session, the constitutional amendment linking delimitation to the women’s reservation bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha by the opposition, even as the NDA held 298 votes.
On Sunday, the rebel TMC MPs announced that they are merging with a regional party and will seek recognition as a separate bloc in the Lok Sabha. The rebel MPs also claim that they have the support of 22 MPs.
However, constitutional expert PDT Achary points out that under para 4 of the 10th schedule, MPs or MLAs have no freedom to merge with any party. “Only the original political party can merge with another party. In this case, the TMC is led by Mamata. After such a merger takes place, the MPs or MLAs can only ‘agree’ with the merger. There should be 2/3rd of them to agree to the merger.”
Experts point out that even if they switch over, the TMC MPs will not be able to vote in favour of the NDA unless the matter is resolved by the EC. Otherwise, they may face a disqualification appeal by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. Even with such support, the NDA would remain well below the 362 members required for a two-thirds majority. The BJP may also be eyeing a few members from Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), which have 9 and 4 MPs, respectively. However, all MPs attended a meeting called by Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday.
The BJP may also reach out to the DMK, which exited the INDIA bloc after its Tamil Nadu ally, the Congress, allied with the Vijay-led TVK government following the assembly election. The DMK has 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha. However, DMK’s position is still not clear, as it was one of the opponents of the Delimitation bill when it came up in the Lok Sabha.
