.CAB to be tabled in RS tomorrow.
New Delhi, Dec 10 (HS): The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) that had a smooth sail in Lok Sabha yesterday, will have to be cleared from Rajya Sabha tomorrow.The Bill was cleared by Lok Sabha on Monday night after a day-long debate and heated exchanges between Amit Shah and Opposition MPs. Now the Bill awaits to clear the Rajya Sabha test.
The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of Rajya Sabha has alloted six hours for debate on the Bill and it looks that the Upper house also wont pose any hurdles in its clearance as the Modi government has turned the arithmetic in Rajya Sabha in its favour with the support of JDU and BJD.
As many as 311 MPs voted in favor of the bill in LS and 80 against it. Now Shah needs 121 votes in Rajya Sabha to be cleared.
Actually, the Citizenship Amendment Bill proposes granting Indian citizenship to the persecuted minorities such as Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis fleeing Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, the Bill doesn’t talk about Muslim refugees.
During last two years, the strength of NDA has increased in Rajya Sabha. There are total 245 seats in Rajya Sabha out of which five seats are vacant. BJP needs 121 votes in favour to get the Bill cleared in the Upper House.
If we by numbers, the Modi government has 83 members in Rajya Sabha and support seven of BJD, 11 are of AIADMK, three of Akali Dal, three of Shiv Sena, six of JDU, two of YSR Congress, one of LJP, one of RPI and four nominated Rajya Sabha members. Whereas there are 100 members are in opposition to the Bill.
