In Upper House, BJP strength crosses 100

New Delhi, April 1

The BJP has crossed the 100 MP mark in the Rajya Sabha for the first time — a development that could help the party push its election manifesto promises. The four victories registered by the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election for 13 seats held yesterday have also spurred the party’s prospects for the upcoming presidential and vice-presidential elections.

5 ex-ministers ready to vacate bungalows

• Five ex-ministers, still occupying bungalows above entitlement, have communicated willingness to vacate bungalows, Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry officials said on Friday
• On Friday, the ministry completed the process of evicting Chirag Paswan from the 12, Janpath bungalow allotted to his late father Ram Vilas Paswan in 1990

A previous analysis by The Tribune showed that the BJP-led NDA was likely to touch the 6 lakh mark in the 10.98 lakh-vote Electoral College for the presidential election on its own once the elections for 65 of the 72 vacancies in the RS arising until early July are filled. Of these 72 seats, seven are nominated members. The nominated MPs do not vote in the presidential poll.

Yesterday, the BJP won one seat each in Assam, Tripura, Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh. Of the 13 RS seats that witnessed elections on Thursday, AAP won five (all Punjab), the BJP four and the Congress, CPM, CPI and BJP’s Assam ally UPPL one each. With these four seats, the BJP’s strength has gone from 97 to 101 in the 245-member Rajya Sabha.

In 2014, the party had only 55 MPs in the House of Elders. Sources say the last time a party crossed 100 MPs in the Upper House was in 1990, when the Congress had 108 MPs. The Congress will have only 29 MPs in the Rajya Sabha by April-end.