WITH 118 SEATS, NDA JUST THREE SHORT OF MAJORITY IN RAJYA SABHA

The party won 30 of the 56 seats in this round of Rajya Sabha elections.

- RAHUL CHHABRA

As BJP made its presence felt in the Rajya Sabha elections, the NDA’s tally jumped to 118 in the Upper House, just three short of majority. The good show by the BJP, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, served as a tonic for party workers and also swelled its own strength in the House to 97.

Altogether, the party managed to win 30 of the 56 seats in this round of RS elections, two more than its legislative strength entitles it to. The party’s growing heft in the Upper House should make legislative business in the House an easy ride if the Narendra Modi government expectedly returns to power for a third straight term in May.

The Congress was left licking its wound in Himachal Pradesh as, helped by cross voting, the BJP-led NDA won 10 Rajya Sabha seats out of the 15, for which voting was held across three states.

The crucial show of tactical floor management in Himachal and Uttar Pradesh Assemblies, where the BJP managed to get its candidates elected despite unfavourable numbers, is nothing less than a trophy or a moral victory for the saffron party over the INDI Alliance just weeks before the Lok Sabha elections. The fact that the drama in Himachal Pradesh unfolded around the time when Rahul Gandhi is taking out his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, has rubbed salt into Congress’ wounds.

Home Minister Amit Shah summed up the RS election outcome by saying that the Congress and the I.N.D.I.A bloc are disintegrating. “They don’t know how to keep their house in order and can’t remain together,” he said. While the NDA benefitted from cross-voting in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh and BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, it suffered a setback in Karnataka where a party MLA supported the Congress nominee.