NDA now 3 seats short of majority in Rajya Sabha after latest round of polls

With the election to 56 Rajya Sabha seats this month, the BJP alone has inched closer to 100.

The party has won 30 of the 56 seats in this round of elections, taking its score in the Upper House to 97 and the NDA to 118.

Candidates on 41 of the 56 seats had been elected unopposed earlier this month. The election was held on 15 seats across three states on Tuesday in which the saffron party scooped up two extra seats-one in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh and one in Uttar Pradesh-thanks to cross-voting by MLAs of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party.

While the majority mark in the 245-member Upper House is 123, five seats are currently vacant, four of which are in President-rule imposed Jammu and Kashmir, and one in the nominated member category. This brings down the strength of the House to 240 and the majority mark to 121.

With the BJP dominating the Lok Sabha, the numbers in the Rajya Sabha have become crucial for the passing of bills.

After 2019, despite not having a majority, the NDA government managed to get crucial bills -- including the repealing of Article 370, abolition of triple talaq, Delhi Service bill, and others -- passed in the upper house with the support of neutral parties such as Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal and Andhra Pradesh's YSR Congress.

For the Congress-led Opposition, a minority position in the Rajya Sabha would push them further into a corner.