NDA on the cusp of RS majority with 11 candidates elected unopposed

With 11 of its candidates elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is on the cusp of a majority in the Upper House.

The Rajya Sabha currently has 237 members, with four vacancies each in the nominated category and from Jammu and Kashmir, with the majority mark being 119.

The NDA, after these candidates take oath, will have 117 members in the House, including 96 from the BJP’s.

The Congress could win only one seat, losing two of its sitting seats to the NDA, which has reduced its tally to 25.

Of the eight nominated members in the House, two are from the BJP, while six are unaffiliated to any political party.

However, the NDA could count on its support during voting on Bills, helping it surpass the majority mark.

The four vacancies in the nominated category, when filled, could potentially increase the NDA’s support in the House.

Union ministers and BJP members Ravneet Singh Bittu, from Rajasthan, and George Kurian, from Madhya Pradesh, were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha along with other BJP candidates. These include Kiran Choudhry (Haryana), Mamata Mohanta (Odisha), Manan Kumar Mishra (Bihar), Mission Ranjan Dass and Rameshwar Teli (both from Assam), Dhairyasheel Patil (Maharashtra) and Rajeev Bhattacharjee (Tripura).

Former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who leads the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, was elected unopposed from Bihar and Nitin Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party was elected unopposed from Maharashtra.

The two parties are constituents of the NDA. Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi was elected unopposed from Telangana.

Of the 12 vacancies, 10 arose because these Rajya Sabha MPs were elected to the Lok Sabha in the recently held general elections. These include BJP's Piyush Goyal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Biplab Deb and others, Congress' K C Venugopal and Deependra Hooda and RJD's Misa Bharati.

The other two vacancies were because K Keshav Rao resigned from the Rajya Sabha since he had quit the BRS to join the Congress and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Mamata Mohanta left her seat to join the BJP.

The dozen candidates, if elected, will serve truncated tenures. Other than the 12 vacancies, there are four more from Jammu and Kashmir.