BJP at 99 in Rajya Sabha: How new nominations could help party breach 100-mark

The BJP, with 99 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, could soon breach the 100-mark. (File: PTI)

The Bharatiya Janata Party, with 99 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, could soon breach the 100-mark with the President appointing four new nominated members to the Upper House.

The new appointments, announced by the government on Saturday evening, include former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Special Public Prosecutor in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case Ujjwal Nikam, social worker from Kannur in Kerala C Sadanandan Master, and Delhi-based historian Meenakshi Jain.

At least two of these new appointees have already contested elections earlier on a BJP ticket. While the BJP had fielded Ujjwal Nikam from the Mumbai North Central seat in the Lok Sabha elections last year, Sadanandan was the BJP candidate from the Kuthuparamba seat in Kannur district in the 2016 and 2021 Kerala Assembly elections. Both candidates failed to win from their respective constituencies.

The party had also considered fielding former diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in the general elections last year but eventually gave the ticket to sitting MP Raju Bista.

The BJP, currently with 99 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, could soon breach the 100-mark if some of the new members choose to formally join the BJP. The rules allow new nominated MPs six months from the date of their nomination to join any political party.

Of the 12 nominated MPs in the Rajya Sabha, including the 4 new appointments, Gulam Ali and Satnam Sandhu joined the BJP within six months of their appointment. The party also has at least one of the three Independent nominated MPs whom it can count for support.

The support of these 12 nominated MPs takes the ruling NDA's strength to 135 in the 245-member House which currently has five vacancies.

The choice of the nominated MPs also shows the BJP's keen eye on states that it sees of strategic importance. Sadanandana, for instance, hails from the politically volatile Kannur district in Kerala, where the BJP is hoping to make a mark in the elections due by April-May next year.

Sadanandana is hailed by the Kerala BJP as a living martyr after he lost both his legs in an attack allegedly carried out by Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers in 1994 after he switched political allegiance.

Congratulating the new appointees in a post on X on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Sadanandan Master’s life as an epitome of courage and resilience. "Violence and intimidation couldn't deter his spirit towards national development," Modi said.

The Prime Minister also praised Nikam as "not only a successful lawyer but also at the forefront of seeking justice in important cases."

The PM also acknowledged Shringla's contribution in India hosting the Group of 20 Summit as Chief Coordinator for India’s G20 Presidency in 2023. A 1984-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Shringla previously served as India's Ambassador to the United States and Thailand and as High Commissioner to Bangladesh before being appointed the Foreign Secretary.

It would be the second time that the BJP would hit the century mark in the Upper House after 2022, when it became the first party since 1988 to achieve this feat.