Citizenship (Amendment) Bill: How many trust votes does BJP need in Rajya Sabha to pass the bill

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday, will be tabled in Rajya Sabha on today. Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship Bill with a majority of 311 votes against 80 votes in the Lower House where 391 members were present and voted.

The cut-off date for citizenship bill is December 31, 2014. The Bill, which seeks to give citizenship to refugees from the Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zorastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh was passed in Lok Sabha on Monday.

So how many trust votes does BJP need in Rajya Sabha to pass the Bill?

In Rajya Sabha, the Modi government requires the support of at least 123 MPs in the 240-member house.

Though BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enjoyed overwhelming majority in the lower house that helped it get 311 votes in favour of the bill, and 80 against in the lower house, the party's hold on the Rajya Sabha is bit unsteady.

The ruling BJP is confident that the legislation will be passed by the Upper House with a comfortable majority. The BJP-led NDA is expecting 124-130 votes in the Upper House which has an effective strength of 240 members and 121 is the halfway mark.

As per the calculations of the BJP's floor managers, the effective strength of the Rajya Sabha is 240. The NDA's current strength is 105 in the House, including 83 members of the BJP, six of Janata Dal (U), three of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), one each from LJP and RPI(A) and 11 nominated MPs.

The BJP is in talks with AIADMK which has 11 members, the BJD with seven members, YSRCP with two members and TDP with two members. The saffron party is confident of their support as all these parties had backed the bill in Lok Sabha. With support of these 22 members, the BJP-led NDA will have the support of 127 members in the House which is above the majority mark of 120.

According to NDTV, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has 64 members and expects 46 others, like the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Communist Party of India (Marxist), to oppose the bill, taking its total to 110.

(Inputs from Agencies)