The ruling NDA coalition has achieved a significant milestone in the Rajya Sabha, reaching the majority mark following the unopposed election of eleven new members to the upper house. This includes nine from the BJP and two from its allies. With these additions, the BJP’s strength has risen to 96, and the NDA now holds 112 seats in the Rajya Sabha.

Among the newly elected members, there is one from each of the NDA allies: a representative from the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP and another from the Rashtriya Lok Manch. The ruling alliance also benefits from the support of six nominated members and one independent.

The Congress managed to secure one seat, bringing its total in the Rajya Sabha to 85.

The Rajya Sabha, which has a total of 245 seats, currently has eight vacancies—four from Jammu and Kashmir and four that are nominated. With the house’s current strength at 237, the majority mark stands at 119.

The BJP’s newly elected members include Mission Ranjan Dass and Rameshwar Teli from Assam, Manan Kumar Mishra from Bihar, Kiran Chadhary from Haryana, George Kurien from Madhya Pradesh, Dhirya Sheel Patil from Maharashtra, Mamata Mohanta from Odisha, Ravneet Singh Bittu from Rajasthan, and Rajeev Bhattacharjee from Tripura.

Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi was elected from Telangana. From the NDA allies, Nitin Patil of the Ajit Pawar faction was elected from Maharashtra, and Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Manch was elected from Bihar.

Achieving a majority in the Rajya Sabha has long been a goal for the NDA and is expected to facilitate the smoother passage of contentious legislation. Previously, significant opposition numbers often obstructed government bills, which were sometimes passed with support from non-aligned parties such as Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress. However, with these parties losing power in their states—one to the BJP and the other to its ally Chandrababu Naidu—their support is now less certain.