oppn parties Horse Trading Again As BJP Gains Two RS Seats

Story Of The Day

A 2,458-Point Rally Is Not Yet A Recovery

November 07, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Horse Trading Again As BJP Gains Two RS Seats

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-02-28 06:49:35

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Rajya Sabha elections were marred by cross-voting that mainly benefitted the BJP. The party managed to win 2 extra seats - one each in UP and Himachal Pradesh. In Himachal Pradesh, despite having just 25 MLAs (Congress has 40), the BJP managed to stun the GoP by poaching 6 Congress MLAs and winning over 3 independents to force a tie at 34 votes each. After that, a draw of lots ensured that Congress candidate and noted Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Singhvi did not make it to the Rajya Sabha as the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan emerged the winner.

The Congress government of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is in danger now as after cross-voting by 6 MLAs, a total of 26 MLAs are now demanding Sukhu's ouster. The BJP has already moved in - on the day of the voting for RS elections, it demanded a division for a vote on a budget proposal which was denied by the Speaker. Later, former BJP chief minister Jairam Thakur, along with several BJP MLAs, met the state governor and the buzz is that the party will move a no-confidence motion against Sukhu.

In UP, the report is that 7 SP MLAs voted in favour of BJP candidates and one abstained which resulted in the party getting an extra RS seat. That this was going to happen was indicated a day earlier when the SP chief whip Manoj Kumar Pandey had resigned. Pandey's resignation opened the doors for more desertions and the SP candidate Alok Ranjan could not win.

The BJP also suffered embarrassment due to cross-voting in Karnataka as one party MLA voted for Congress candidate Ajay Maken while another abstained. Although it did not change the overall result and the BJP won one seat which it was slated to win as per numerical strength, it resulted in red faces in the state unit. The BJP had tried to create a rift in the Congress party in Karnatka by fielding a fifth candidate for the four seats going to polls but the plan was foiled by ST Somashekar who voted for Ajay Maken and Shivaram Hebbar who chose to abstain. It remains to be seen what disciplinary action the party takes against these two MLAs for defying the party whip.

Of late, the BJP is trying to win elections by any means (the Chandigarh mayoral election fiasco was a blot on democracy) and the voting for the latest round of Rajya Sabha elections once again proves this. Although with 2 extra seats in RS, the party has ensured that the NDA is now just 4 short of the majority mark in the Upper House, it has once again resorted to horse trading to achieve this.

 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

 Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.