Ahead of Rajya Sabha elections in four states, various parties have accommodated legislators from at least three states in resorts, away from potential poaching by rival parties.

Do you know?

• Only two UTs elect members to the Rajya Sabha, not all.
• Polling is held only if the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacancies.
• Independent members can also be elected etc.

Read this newscard for all such interesting facts which can be directly asked in the prelims.

Rajya Sabha Polls

• A third of MPs in the Rajya Sabha (which is a permanent House and is not subject to dissolution), from each State, retire once in two years and polls are held to fill up the vacancies.
• Only elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies can vote in a Rajya Sabha election.
• The legislators send a batch of new members to the Upper House every two years for a six-year term.
• In addition, vacancies that arise due to resignation, death or disqualification are filled up through by-polls after which those elected serve out the remainder of their predecessors’ term.

Composition of Rajya Sabha

• A bloc of MPs belonging to one or more parties can elect a member of their choice if they have the requisite numbers.
• This is to avoid the principle of majority, which would mean that only candidates put up by ruling parties in the respective States will be elected.
• The Delhi and Puducherry Assemblies elect members to the Rajya Sabha to represent the two UTs.

What is the election process?

• Polling for a Rajya Sabha election will be held only if the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacancies.
• Since the strength of each party in the Assembly is known, it is not difficult to estimate the number of seats a party would win in the Rajya Sabha poll.
• In many states, parties avoid a contest by fielding candidates only in respect to their strength. Where an extra candidate enters the fray, voting becomes necessary.
• Candidates fielded by political parties have to be proposed by at least 10 members of the Assembly or 10% of the party’s strength in the House, whichever is less.
• For independents, there should be 10 proposers, all of whom should be members of the Assembly.

Voting procedure

• Voting is by single transferable vote, as the election is held on the principle of proportional representation.
• A single transferable vote means electors can vote for any number of candidates in order of their preference.
• A candidate requires a specified number of first preference votes to win. Each first choice vote has a value of 100 in the first round.
• To qualify, a candidate needs one point more than the quotient obtained by dividing the total value of the number of seats for which elections are taking place plus one.

Example: If there are four seats and 180 MLAs voting, the qualifying number will be 180/5= 36 votes or value of 3,600.

Why do not the Rajya Sabha polls have a secret ballot?

• The Rajya Sabha polls have a system of the open ballot, but it is a limited form of openness.
• As a measure to check rampant cross-voting, which was taken to mean that the vote had been purchased by corrupt means.
• There is a system of each party MLA showing his or her marked ballots to the party’s authorised agent (called Whip), before they are put into the ballot box.
• Showing a marked ballot to anyone other than one’s own party’s authorised agent will render the vote invalid.
• Not showing the ballot to the authorised agent will also mean that the vote cannot be counted.
• And independent candidates are barred from showing their ballots to anyone.

Is there any NOTA option in voting?

• The ECI issued two circulars, on January 24, 2014, and November 12, 2015, giving Rajya Sabha members the option to press the NOTA button in the Upper House polls.
• However, in 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the provision, holding that the ‘none of the above’ option is only for general elections.
• It cannot be applied to indirect elections based on proportional representation.

Does cross-voting attract disqualification?

• The Supreme Court, while declining to interfere with the open ballot system, ruled that not voting for the party candidate will not attract disqualification under the anti-defection law.
• As voters, MLAs retain their freedom to vote for a candidate of their choice.
• However, the Court observed that since the party would know who voted against its own candidate, it is free to take disciplinary action against the legislator concerned.

Can a legislator vote without taking oath as a member of the Assembly?

• While taking oath as a member is for anyone to function as a legislator, the Supreme Court has ruled that a member can vote in a Rajya Sabha election even before taking oath as a legislator.
• It ruled that voting at the Rajya Sabha polls, being a non-legislative activity, can be performed without taking the oath.
• A person becomes a member as soon as the list of elected members is notified by the ECI, it said.
• Further, a member can also propose a candidate before taking the oath.

Try this PYQ:

Q. Consider the following statements:

1. The Rajya Sabha has no power either to reject or to amend a Money Bill.
2. The Rajya Sabha cannot vote on the Demands for Grants.
3. The Rajya Sabha cannot discuss the Annual Financial Statement.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) Only 1

(c) 2 and 3 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

 

Post your answers here.

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