The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, aka CAB that saw a heated 12-hour long discussion in Loksabha before its passage in the mid-night a day before yesterday is all set for its presentation in Rajyasabha today.
Assam: Protest being held in Guwahati against #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019. Home Minister Amit Shah to table the Bill in Rajya Sabha today. pic.twitter.com/jCa0aI4wx4
— ANI (@ANI) December 11, 2019
As the protest against the bill is heightened both inside and outside the Parliament with the North-eastern states leading the march the going can get tough for the bill in Rajyasabha where the government fells short of the majority mark.
BJP parliamentary party meeting held ahead of tabling of Citizenship Amendment Bill in RS
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) December 11, 2019
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/nb1fk0eOib pic.twitter.com/WQWOANDYhM
The CAB bill when it would be tabled in the Rajyasabha today would need 121 Ayes (votes in favor) to sail through the Upper House and go on for the final stage that is Presidential assent before it becomes a law.
Some Opposition parties speaking language of Pakistan on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill: PM Modi
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) December 11, 2019
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/vbC4sLbHBp pic.twitter.com/Q0ofsfJWt6
The current strength of Rajyasabha stands at 240 against its constitutional strength of 250. The BJP led NDA has a total of 116 MPs in its favor which includes support from AIADMK, Janata Dal-United, and the Akali Dal.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrives in Parliament. The #CitizenshipAmendmentBill will be tabled in Rajya Sabha at 12pm today pic.twitter.com/R1ZSpxIiuO
— ANI (@ANI) December 11, 2019
BJP’s former ally Shiv Sena that has 3 MPs has said that it would extend support to the bill if they get satisfactory answer to there questions in the parliament in regards to the bill.
Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena MP on #CitizenshipAmendmentBill in Rajya Sabha: We have to clear our doubts on this bill, if we don't get satisfactory answers then our stand could be different from what we took in Lok Sabha pic.twitter.com/OOfdwyR2xH
— ANI (@ANI) December 11, 2019
BJP apart from Shiv Sena who voted in favor of the bill in Loksabha is looking to garner support from 7 members of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD, 2 of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP and 2 of Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP.
Also Read: The Citizenship Amendment Bill, Here Is All That You Need To Know
With this support, the government would be able to get 130 votes in its favor helping the bill to cross the majority mark with ease. The bill that aims to grant citizenship to a person belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian faith from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan would be placed on table in Rajyasabha in the afternoon session.
