Rajya Sabha Polls: NDA four seats short of majority in Upper House. What it means for BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ten of the fifteen Rajya Sabha seats that went to polls on February 27 amid cross-voting reports in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. 

The won eight of the ten seats in Uttar Pradesh and one of the three seats in Karnataka. The most unexpected outcome, however, came from , where the saffron party's Harsh Mahajan bagged the lone Rajya Sabha seat, defeating Congress party's after six rebel Congress members cross-voted.

Apart from the fifteen seats that went to polls on February 27, as many as 41 candidates were elected unopposed. Overall, the BJP bagged 30 of the 56 seats set to fall vacant in April from 15 States.

These wins take BJP's tally in the Upper House to 97, three less than 100. This also means the BJP-led (NDA) will now have 117 members, four less than the 121 majority mark in the Upper House.

The majority mark in the 245-member Rajya Sabha is 123. However, five seats are vacant - four in , which has been under the President's Rule, and one in the nominated member category. Thus, the strength of the House is reduced to 240 and the majority mark to 121.

This also means that the BJP remains the single-largest party in the Rajya Sabha with 97 members, including five nominated members who joined the party, followed by the Congress with 29 members, the with 13, the DMK and the AAP with 10 each. The JD and the YSRCP have nine Rajya Sabha seats each, while the BRS has seven, the RJD has six, the CPI (M) has five, and the AIADMK and the JD(U) have four members each.

Since are due in two months, the NDA is expected to cross the majority mark in 2026, when the next election cycle for Rajya Sabha takes place. This assumes significance since the has enjoyed a full majority in the Lok Sabha