Newsroom, May 31: Amidst endless “Modi…Modi” slogans, India’s single largest party BJP has slipped almost close to the halfway mark in Lok Sabha after a series of bypoll defeats in last couple of year.
Soon the saffron party will face another litmus test as its two prominent MPs — B S Yeddyurappa and B Sreeramulu — have shifted to in Karnataka assembly paving way for another bypoll. Besides these two MPs, the resignation of the JD(S) MP from Karnataka, CS Puttaraju, too has been accepted by the Speaker.
The BJP’s tally in the lower house of Parliament now stands at 273 after it retained the Palghar seat in Maharashtra and lost two other seats in the bypoll, the results of which were announced today. With four vacant seats—three in Karnataka and one in J&K—the halfway mark is now 270.
However, for all practical purposes the BJP’s strength is 274 as two nominated members also belong to it.
Counting them, the BJP has three members more than the 271 it needs to have a majority in 541-member House.
Due to losses in a number of by-polls, including in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the BJP’s strength has come down in the Lok Sabha after it won 282 seats in the 2014 general elections.
However, it makes little difference to the government as the BJP-led NDA has around 315 seats.
By-polls to four Lok Sabha seats were held on May 28. The BJP had won three of them in the general elections but could manage to retain only one, losing one each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
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