Huge win in Delhi ensures AAP its Rajya Sabha presence till January, 2030

Times of India, February 12, 2020

Getting a huge number of seats in Delhi Assembly means the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will get all three Rajya Sabha seats from the Capital city for the second time and ensure its presence in the Upper House till January 2030. Though the election to Rajya Sabha seats from the city is due only in January 2024 when the incumbent three AAP members retire, the poor show of BJP in Assembly polls won’t get the party even a single seat in Upper House from Delhi.

Under a formula to win a Rajya Sabha from Delhi, any political party would require minimum 19 MLAs in the Assembly to secure a single seat. With the BJP being not near this number, the AAP will bag all the three seats like what it did in January 2018.

Currently, the AAP has Sanjay Singh, Sushil Kumar Gupta and Narain Dass Gupta as its MPs in the Upper House where the ruling NDA has long been struggling with majority mark on its own.

Though the BJP has improved its Rajya Sabha tally over the past four years and became the largest party in the Upper House with 82 members on board, its journey to majority mark was halted by the party’s defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Still, the NDA could manage crucial bills including the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the House with the support of friendly parties such as BJD, YSRCP and AIADMK.

With three MPs on board, the AAP currently has more members in the House than many political parties such as TDP, YSRCP, CPI and PDP.  The BJP is, however, expected to gain good numbers, especially from Uttar Pradesh, when the Upper House will go for biennial polls in March-April. Over 70 seats will go vacant in Rajya Sabha this year. Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP has a huge tally in Assembly, alone will see 10 vacancies.

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