Rajya Sabha: First time in its history, BJP hits 100-seat mark

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has got a three-digit tally in the Rajya Sabha for the first time in its history after winning one seat each in Assam, Tripura and Nagaland in the elections held on Thursday.

Gaining strength in the Rajya Sabha since 2014, the BJP's tally in the upper house of Parliament has reached 100, making it the first political party since 1990 to reach the tally. The BJP’s strength in the upper house was 55 in 2014.

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. The Aam Aadmi Party won all five seats in Punjab.

The BJP’s tally, despite being 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 last time a party had 100 or more seats in the Upper House was in 1990 when the then ruling Congress had 108 members before its steady decline after its numbers fell to 99 in the 1990 biennial polls and continued to decline as a stream of states fell out of its rule and coalition era began and continued till 2014.

However, the polls to around 52 more seats will be held soon and the BJP is expected to suffer reverses in states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.

Whether the BJP’s expected gains from Uttar Pradesh, where it may win at least eight of the 11 expected vacancies, will make up for the loss remains to be seen. Out of the 11 retiring Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh, five are from the BJP.