Election of Rajya Sabha members
Topic: Elections and the Electoral System · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Election and Representation"; Class 11, Ch 5 "Legislature"
Meaning
Rajya Sabha members are chosen by indirect election. The elected MLAs of each state, and of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir, elect them by the single transferable vote (STV), a system in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. Since a 2003 amendment, voting has been by open ballot: a party MLA must show the marked ballot to the party's agent. NOTA ("None of the Above") is not allowed in these polls (Shailesh Manubhai Parmar, 2018).
Example
The Rajya Sabha has 245 members: 233 elected and 12 nominated. Art. 80 sets a ceiling of 250. It is a permanent House: members serve six years, and one-third of them retire every two years. In Rajasthan, 200 MLAs electing 4 members means each winner needs 41 votes.
Don't confuse with
- Lok Sabha election: here voters elect members directly under first-past-the-post, with secret ballot and the NOTA option.
Related concepts
- Single transferable vote
- Electoral quota
- Open ballot
- Kuldip Nayar case
- Shailesh Manubhai Parmar case
- Cross-voting
- Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act 1952