Left out, UPA searches for votes in Lok Sabha

SAFETY IN NUMBERS: The safety mark in Lok Sabha is 272; the UPA has 225 votes of its own.

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Keywords: Seats, Votes

New Delhi: The Congress-led UPA Government is sure of passing a vote of confidence in Parliament after the Left Front withdrew support to it but are the numbers that safe?

Here is how the numbers in Parliament stack up for the UPA. The halfway mark in Lok Sabha is 272 and the UPA, as of now, has 225 votes of its own.

The Samajwadi Party—the Government’s new friend—has 39 MPs but its actual numbers may fall to 35 because of disgruntled MPs like Beniprasad Verma.

The law says MPs can be disqualified for voting against their parties’ orders but the catch is that their vote will count and will not be overruled. Disgruntled SP MPs may abstain or even vote against the Government.

If the Government gets 35 SP votes, the total will reach 260—12 short of the safety mark of 272.

Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) will bring in three MPS; then the Government will be nine short of passing the floor test.

The Janata Dal (Secular), former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s party, has promised the support of its two MPs. The Government then has 265 votes but it’s still seven short.

It’s touch and go for the Government, so it’s wooing a host of political leaders and minor parties. Crucial among them are three of the six Independents, the BNP of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the NLP of Uttar Pradesh, the SDF of Sikkim and MNF of Mizoram. All these parties have one MP each.

Finally, the Government is also courting the All India Trinamool Congress of West Bengal and the National Conference of Jammu and Kashmir. The two parties have three MPs in total. With their support, the Government should reach a figure of 278 to 280—more than the majority mark.