Rajya Sabha

Also called: Council of States, Article 80 · Topic: Parliament: Composition, Powers and Law-making · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 10 "Grassroots Democracy – Part 1: Governance"; Class 7, Ch 9 "From the Rulers to the Ruled: Types of Governments"; Class 8, Ch 5 "Universal Franchise and India's Electoral System"; Class 8, Ch 6 "The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive"; Class 9, Ch 7 "Elections"; Class 11, Ch 5 "Legislature"

Meaning

The Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper House of Parliament. It speaks for the states and Union Territories (UTs), not directly for voters. It can have up to 250 members (Art. 80). Up to 238 of them represent the states and UTs and are chosen indirectly: elected MLAs vote for them, or an electoral college does so for a UT. The other 12 are nominated by the President. It is a permanent House: it is never dissolved, members serve six years, and one-third of them retire every two years.

It matters because it is the federal chamber of Parliament. It gives Parliament continuity when the Lok Sabha is dissolved, and it can slow down hasty laws. A government that is strong in the Lok Sabha can still be in a minority here.

Explanation

Composition and seats (Art. 80, Fourth Schedule)

• Maximum strength: 250. Up to 238 members represent states and UTs, and 12 are nominated.
• Present strength: 245. Of these, 233 represent states and UTs and 12 are nominated [2].
• How seats are shared: the Fourth Schedule (a list at the end of the Constitution) gives each state and UT its number of seats [2].
• Seats follow population, so bigger states get more seats [2].
• Uttar Pradesh has the most seats: 31 [3].

• The number of seats has changed several times since 1952, as states were reorganised or new states were created [2].

• UTs: only three UTs have seats. They are Delhi (3), Puducherry (1) and Jammu and Kashmir (4), which makes 8 in all.

• Other UTs, such as Ladakh, Chandigarh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, have no seat.

• Qualification (Art. 84): a member must be a citizen of India and at least 30 years old [3]. For the Lok Sabha the minimum age is 25.

How members are elected (Art. 80(4))

• Indirect election: ordinary people do not vote for Rajya Sabha members.
• The elected MLAs of each state's Legislative Assembly vote.
• Nominated MLAs and members of a Legislative Council (a state's upper House) do not vote.

• In UTs that have seats, the members of that UT's electoral college vote [2].

• Method: members are elected by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) [2].

• Proportional representation: each party gets seats roughly in line with how many MLAs it has.
• Single transferable vote: each MLA ranks the candidates 1, 2, 3 and so on. If the first choice has already won or is knocked out, the vote moves to the next choice.

• Result: a party with enough MLAs is sure of its share of seats, and a smaller party can also win a seat.

• Open ballot (RPA 1951 s.59, added in 2003): each MLA must show their marked ballot paper to their party's authorised agent [5].

• No domicile rule (since 2003): a candidate does not have to be a voter in the state they represent. A voter registered anywhere in India can stand.
• No NOTA: NOTA ("None of the Above", the option to reject every candidate) cannot be used in Rajya Sabha elections [6].

A permanent House (Art. 83(1))

• Never dissolved: the Rajya Sabha is not subject to dissolution. The Lok Sabha, by contrast, is dissolved after five years or earlier.
• Term: each member serves six years.
• Rotation: one-third of members retire every second year (RPA 1951 s.154). Their places are filled in biennial elections (elections held every two years) [3].

• How it started: in 1952, lots were drawn to decide which members would retire after 2, 4 and 6 years. That rotation still runs today.

• When the Lok Sabha is dissolved:

• The Rajya Sabha can still meet for urgent business.

• Suppose a national emergency is declared (Art. 352) while the Lok Sabha is dissolved. The Rajya Sabha alone approves it for the time being. The new Lok Sabha must then approve it within 30 days of its first sitting.

• Party strength changes slowly:

• Only one-third of the seats change every two years.
• So a big Lok Sabha win shows up in the Rajya Sabha only slowly.
• So a new government can be in a minority in the Rajya Sabha for years.

Nominated members (Art. 80(3))

• Who: the President nominates 12 people with special knowledge or practical experience in literature, science, art and social service [2].

• Sport is not named in Art. 80(3). Even so, sportspersons have been nominated under these headings.

• Why: to bring experts who may not win elections into Parliament, so that law-making gains from their knowledge.

• Joining a party (Tenth Schedule para 2(3)): the Tenth Schedule is the anti-defection law (a member who changes party can lose their seat).
• A nominee may join a political party within six months of taking the seat.

• A nominee who joins a party after six months can be disqualified.

• Voting rights:

• President's election (Art. 54): nominated members do not vote. Only elected MPs and MLAs vote [2].
• Vice-President's election (Art. 66): nominated members do vote, because all members of both Houses take part.

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitution:
• Art. 80: composition. Art. 80(3) covers nominations and Art. 80(4) covers the method of election.
• Art. 83(1): the Rajya Sabha is a permanent House.
• Art. 84: qualifications.
• Fourth Schedule: seats for each state and UT.

• Tenth Schedule para 2(3): the six-month rule for nominated members.

• Law: the Representation of the People Act (RPA) 1951. Section 154 sets the term and rotation. Section 59 contains the open ballot, which was added by the RPA (Amendment) Act 2003.

• First formed: in 1952, together with the first Lok Sabha.
• Why the 2003 reforms came:
• 1997: the Rajya Sabha set up an Ethics Committee, headed by S.B. Chavan [5].
• 1998, Maharashtra: Congress MLAs went against the party's voting instructions, so its candidate Ram Pradhan lost even though the party had enough votes [5]. This is called cross-voting: an MLA votes for someone other than the party's choice, often because of money or "horse-trading".
• December 1998: the Ethics Committee's first report backed open voting [5].

• 2001: Law Minister Arun Jaitley of the Vajpayee government brought the amending Bill [5].

• Kuldip Nayar v. Union of India (2006):

• The case: WP (C) 217 of 2004, decided on 22 August 2006 by a Constitution Bench [4]. Kuldip Nayar, a journalist and a nominated MP, challenged the 2003 changes [5].
• On domicile: the Court held that where a member lives is not essential to federalism. The House represents states through the people their MLAs choose.

• On the open ballot: the Court upheld it. Secrecy of the ballot is "a vital principle", but "the higher principle … is free and fair elections and purity of elections". If secrecy breeds corruption, "sunlight and transparency" can remove it [4][5].

• Shailesh Manubhai Parmar v. ECI (2018): NOTA cannot be used in Rajya Sabha elections. The Election Commission has withdrawn NOTA from ballot papers for Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Council elections [6].

• Reason: in an indirect, open-ballot election, NOTA would weaken party discipline and make defections easier.

• Minority in the Rajya Sabha:

• The Janata government (1977) and the NDA (2000) had Lok Sabha majorities but no Rajya Sabha majority.
• Such a government must negotiate with other parties to pass ordinary bills. If the two Houses disagree on an ordinary bill, the President can call a joint sitting (Art. 108).

• A money bill (a bill only about taxes, government borrowing or spending) gets around this problem, because the Rajya Sabha can hold it back for only 14 days.

• Nomination controversy: former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was nominated in 2020, shortly after he retired. This raised concerns about judicial independence.

Don't confuse with

• Lok Sabha: the people elect it directly, it can be dissolved, and its minimum age is 25. The Rajya Sabha is elected indirectly by MLAs, is never dissolved, and its minimum age is 30.
• US Senate: every US state gets two seats. In India, Rajya Sabha seats follow population under the Fourth Schedule, which is why UP has 31.
• State Legislative Council: this is a state's upper House. Its members do not vote in Rajya Sabha elections. NOTA is withdrawn in both kinds of election [6].
• President's election vs Vice-President's election: nominated Rajya Sabha members vote for the Vice-President (Art. 66) but not for the President (Art. 54).

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 80: maximum strength 250 (238 from states and UTs + 12 nominated). Present strength 245 (233 + 12) [2]. Art. 83(1): never dissolved. RPA s.154: six-year term, with one-third retiring every two years.
• Only Delhi (3), Puducherry (1) and J&K (4) among the UTs have seats. Ladakh has none, which is a common trap. UP has the most seats (31) [3].
• Members are elected by PR-STV, and only elected MLAs vote. Nominated MLAs and Legislative Council members do not [2].
• RPA (Amendment) Act 2003: brought in the open ballot and dropped the domicile rule. Both were upheld in Kuldip Nayar (2006) [4].
• NOTA is not allowed in Rajya Sabha or Legislative Council elections (Shailesh Manubhai Parmar v. ECI, 2018) [6].
• Art. 80(3) names literature, science, art and social service. Sports is not on the list. Nominees may join a party within six months.

Mains Points

• Open ballot: clean elections vs free choice.
• Gain: it reduced cross-voting and money power. The 1998 Maharashtra case led to the Ethics Committee report and then the 2003 Act [5].
• Cost: party high commands now control MLAs more tightly.

• Kuldip Nayar (2006) put purity of elections above secrecy [4].

• "Council of parties" debate.

• Critique: seats based on population, no domicile rule and party-watched voting weaken the House's role as the voice of the states.
• Defence: Kuldip Nayar held that federalism does not depend on where a member lives, and that parties are a legitimate channel of representation [4].

• Reform ideas: bring back a residence rule, give small states more equal seats, or hold direct elections. Direct elections risk making the House a copy of the Lok Sabha.

• Permanence and nominations.

• Permanence: rotating membership gives continuity, for example approving an emergency while the Lok Sabha is dissolved, and it checks hasty laws. Critics say it can also block a fresh popular mandate, as with Janata in 1977 and the NDA in 2000.
• Nominations: nominees bring expertise, but some rarely attend, and nominations right after retirement (Ranjan Gogoi, 2020) raise doubts.
• Possible fix: a transparent, criteria-based way of choosing nominees, with a cooling-off period for judges.

Related concepts

• Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha

Read more

• The Rajya Sabha: composition, election and permanence