UPA comfortably placed in Rajya Sabha

With UPA getting the unstinted support of SP and BSP on Tuesday, the Congress-led coalition appears to be placed comfortably in the Rajya Sabha.

With UPA getting the unstinted support of SP and BSP on Tuesday, the Congress-led coalition appears to be placed comfortably in the Rajya Sabha.

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The UPA, which needs 116 votes in the House with an effective strength of 231, for a simple majority, has support of 113 members, including Samajwadi Party -- 13, BSP -- 10, RJD -- four and LJP -- one.

The 245-member Upper House has 14 vacancies, including those caused by 12 members elected to the Lok Sabha this time.
Congress itself has 68 members, while DMK and NCP have four members each, Trinamool and JD(S) - two each, and National Conference and Muslim League - one each.

Sikkim Democratic Front and Bodo People's Front having one member each too will support the UPA, while the Mizo National Front with one member is also likely to support UPA.

With the help of some of the seven Independents and nine Nominated members, UPA was unlikely to have any problem in proving its majority in the House.

On the other hand, the NDA enjoys a support of 102 members. BJP has 47 members, including three Nominated, while the Left parties comprise 22 members. Rest belong to AIADMK (7), JD-U (6), Shiv Sena (4), BJD (4), Akali Dal (3) and some other smaller parties.

Besides Singh, the other five BJP members who got themselves elected to the Lok Sabha are Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Yashwant Sinha, Dileep Singh Judev and Narendra Singh Tomar.

Two Congress members of the Upper House -- Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and J P Agrawal -- won, as also NCP leader Supriya Sule and her party colleague and Union Minister Praful Patel. Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah has also been elected to Lok Sabha.

Another Rajya Sabha member, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav has been elected to the Lok Sabha.

The UPA tally in the Upper House might increase when the by-elections to the vacant seats are held. The UPA is expected to retain its seats in Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir and gain seats from Rajasthan and Maharashtra.