BJP created history by touching 100-seat mark in Rajya Sabha, in the history of the party. It also created history by emerging as the second political party, after Congress, in the pre-independent history that touches 100-seat mark. It also set another history by becoming a political party that touched 100-seat mark after a gap of 34 years.
Since independence, Congress used to have 100-plus seats in the upper house, since 1988. At that time, its strength was 108 seats. But, since then its number is falling continuously. At the height, it was having strength of 162 members in 1962. Presently, it is having only 29 members.
For the first time in its history, the BJP has achieved the feat of having 100 members in Rajya Sabha after the party won one seats each in Assam, Tripura and Nagaland in the elections held on Thursday.
In the recently held biennial polls for 13 Rajya Sabha seats across six states, the BJP lost its solitary seat from Punjab, but gained one each from the three northeastern states and Himachal Pradesh where all five outgoing members were from opposition parties. In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party won all five seats.
The BJP’s tally, despite way short of majority in the 245-member house, highlights its continuous rise since Prime Minister Narendra Modi led it to its majority in Lok Sabha in the 2014 polls. The BJP’s strength in Rajya Sabha was 55 in 2014 and has since steadily inched up as the party won power in a number of states.
However, BJP’s record number of100-plus seats in Rajya Sabha likely to be short lived, as it is bound to lose its strength in three as polls to around 52 more seats will be held soon, and it is expected to suffer reverses in states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand.
Whether the BJP’s expected gains from Uttar Pradesh, where it may win at least eight of the 11 expected vacancies, will make for the loss remains to be seen. Out of the 11 retiring Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh, five are from the BJP.
