The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 was passed by Lok Sabha yesterday. The Bill will be discussed next by Rajya Sabha. Unlike the Lok Sabha, where the UPA government holds a majority in the House, the composition is different in Rajya Sabha. As on 28th December 2011, the total strength of Rajya Sabha is 243 members . The UPA has a combined strength of 95 members in the House, well below the 50% mark. (Of course, there will be some absent members which will change the arithmetic a bit.) The passage of the Bill thus depends on the stand taken by other political parties and their numbers in the House. Here's how the figures stack up:
| Party | Numbers |
| Indian National Congress (INC) | 71 |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) | 7 |
| Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) | 7 |
| All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) | 6 |
| Jammu and Kashmir National Conference | 2 |
| Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) | 1 |
| Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) | 1 |
| Total UPA | 95 |
| Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) | 51 |
| Janata Dal (United) | 8 |
| Shiv Sena (SS) | 4 |
| Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) | 3 |
| Total NDA | 66 |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 13 |
| Communist Party of India (CPI) | 5 |
| All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) | 1 |
| Total Left | 19 |
| Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP ) | 18 |
| Biju Janata Dal (BJD ) | 6 |
| All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK ) | 5 |
| Samajwadi Party (SP ) | 5 |
| Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD ) | 4 |
| Asom Gana Parishad (AGP ) | 2 |
| Bodoland People's Front (BPF ) | 1 |
| Indian National Lok Dal (INLD ) | 1 |
| Lok Janasakti Party (LJP ) | 1 |
| Mizo National Front (MNF ) | 1 |
| Nagaland People's Front (NPF ) | 1 |
| Telugu Desam Party (TDP ) | 4 |
| Nominated | 8 |
| Independent and others | 6 |
| Total | 243 |
Parliament is set to go into recess this week and will convene again on April 12th. Before going into recess, both houses will have completed general discussions on the budget. Once the recess begins, it’s time to go beyond the big budget numbers and into greater detail. The detailed estimates by various ministries (sometimes running into a few hundred pages), of their budgeted expenditures in the next financial year (April 2010-March 2011) will be examined by the various Parliamentary Standing Committees. When Parliament reconvenes, the Committees will table their reports on these demands for grants and the Lok Sabha will then begin more detailed discussions. Due to lack of time however, such detailed discussions take place only for 3-4 ministries – the rest are voted on without discussion. For a more detailed overview of the entire budget process, see our document “The Union Budget – A Primer” For an overview of the budget documents, as well as a guide to finding the information that you want, see “How to Read the Union Budget”
