Constitutional Provisions of Rajya Sabha: Election, Members, Eligibility & Facts on Rajya Sabha For UPSC

As per the norms of our constitution, India is a democratic republic where there are 3 main pillars to strengthen this idea of democracy named as; Legislature, Executive and Judiciary.

The function of Legislature or Parliament is to make laws, while the Executive plays its role in execution and enactment of laws and the Judiciary is to protect rule of law and ensure its supremacy.

Here the Parliamentary form of Government is adopted from the Constitution of Britain. Under article 79 to 122 there is a detailed briefing of provisions for establishment and functioning of Indian Parliament. Parliament consists of the President of India, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. So we are going to discuss provisions related to Rajya Sabha.

Provision of Rajya Sabha

The Upper house i.e. Rajya Sabha and Lower House i.e. Lok Sabha is established under article 79 of Indian Constitution. It provides for the Parliament which consists of The President and two houses known as Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and House of the People (Lok Sabha). The Council of States first came into existence on April 3, 1952.

Members of Rajya Sabha

The members of Rajya Sabha are the People's Representatives who are elected by the elected members of State legislative assemblies following the method of proportional representation. Here you must be aware of the fact that States with high numbers of population have more seats in Rajya Sabha. Members are appointed for a period of six years while one third of members retire in every 2 years to which new candidates are appointed.

How Many Numbers Can be Appointed in Rajya Sabha?

According to Article 80, the potential membership of Rajya Sabha is up to 250 members out of which 238 members represents States and UTs while 12 members can be nominated from the fields of Art, Science, Literature and Social Science, by the President of India. Currently there are 233 elected and 12 nominated members in Rajya Sabha.

The Vice-President of India, currently M. Venkaiah Naidu, is the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha who presides over every session of it. The Deputy Chairman, currently Harivansh Narayan Singh, is elected amongst the members of the house and responsible for its day to day activities. Similar to Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha is not the matter of dissolution.

Eligibility to be Elected as Member of Rajya Sabha?

Article 84 states about the eligibility criteria to be Elected as a member of Rajya Sabha. It is mandatory for a person to be a Citizen of India, if he/she wants to be a part of the Upper house of Parliament. Apart from this He/She must have completed an age of 30 years while in case of Lok Sabha the minimum age is 25 years. He/She must be registered as an elector for a parliamentary constituency.

Elections of Rajya Sabha

As the members are the representatives of states as well as Union Territories, they are elected in 2 ways;

Election for State representation in Rajya Sabha

Here the members are elected by the elected members of State legislative Assemblies.
The election is based on Proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.

Election for Union Territory Representation

Here the members are indirectly elected by members of an electoral college that is constituted for specially this purpose.
The same election principle of Proportional representation by means of single transferable vote is used in this.While 12 members are nominated by the President.

Important Fact About Rajya Sabha

Here We are presenting some important facts and information regarding the Council of States which comes handly in examination.

• The Chairman of Rajya Sabha is not the member of the House and he can be removed only when his term as the Vice-President gets over.
• The council of State met for the first time on 13 May 1952.The Chairman can vote only in the situation of an equity of votes.
• The Principle of election in Rajya Sabha is the Proportional Representation with the means of single transferable vote.
• Money Bill can not be introduced, rejected or amended in Rajya Sabha.
• The First Chairman of Rajya Sabha was Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
• The Council of Ministers was named as Rajya Sabha in Hindi on 23 august 1954 by then Chairman.
• The maximum number of representatives comes from Uttar Pradesh in Rajya Sabha, 31 followed by Maharashtra 19 and Tamilnadu 18.
• Rajya Sabha is called a permanent body as it is not subject to dissolution.The ex-officio Chairman holds his office for a period of 5 years.
• Currently Piyush Goyal is acting as the leader of the house.
• At present Mallikarjuna Kharge is the leader of the opposition.A member needs not to be a domicile of the state from which he is elected to Rajya Sabha.
• Nominated members do not have a right to vote in the election of the President of India but they can vote for the Vice-President.
• Mrs Rukmini Devi was the first woman to be nominated as the member of Rajya Sabha.
• Article 105 deals with the parliamentary privileges of members of Parliament.