Rajya Sabha

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For Current list of Rajya Sabha members, see List of current members of the Rajya
Sabha.

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Coordinates 2837'0?N 7712'30?E

Rajya Sabha
Council of States
Emblem of India
Emblem of India
Type
Type
Upper house of the Parliament of India
Term limits
6 years
Leadership
Chairman
(Vice-President)
Venkaiah Naidu[1], Independent
Since 11 August 2017
Deputy Chairman
P. J. Kurien, INC
Since 21 August 2012[2]
Leader of the House
Arun Jaitley, BJP
Since 2 June 2014[3]
Leader of the Opposition
Ghulam Nabi Azad, INC
Since 8 June 2014[3]
Structure
Seats
245

233 Elected
12 Nominated
4 Vacant (4 Elected Seats)[4]
India rajya sabha.svg
Political groups
Government coalition (85)
National Democratic Alliance (85)

BJP (57)
JD(U) (10)
TDP (6)
SAD (3)
SS (3)
JKPDP (2)
BPF (1)
NPF (1)
RPI(A) (1)
SDF (1)
Opposition Parties (160)
United Progressive Alliance (63)
 INC (57)
DMK (4)
IUML (1)
KC(M) (1)
Janata Parivar Parties (5)

RJD (3)
INLD (1)
JD(S) (1)
Unaligned Parties (74)

SP (18)
AIADMK (13)
AITC (12)
BJD (8)
CPI(M) (7)
BSP (5)
NCP (5)
TRS (3)
CPI (1)
JMM (1)
YSRCP (1)
Others (18)

Nominated (8)
Independents (6)
Vacant (4)
Elections
Voting system
Single transferable vote
Last election
21 July and 08 August 2017
Next election
Indian Rajya Sabha elections, 2018
Meeting place
view of Sansad Bhavan, seat of the Parliament of India
Chamber of Rajya Sabha, Sansad Bhavan,
Sansad Marg, New Delhi, India
Website
rajyasabha.nic.in
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India.
Membership of Rajya Sabha is limited by the Constitution to a maximum of 250
members, and current laws have provision for 245 members. Most of the members of
the House are indirectly elected by state and territorial legislatures using single
transferable votes, while the President can appoint 12 members for their
contributions to art, literature, science, and social services. Members sit for
staggered six-year terms, with one third of the members retiring every two years.
[5]

The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous sessions, and unlike the Lok Sabha, the lower
house of Parliament, is not subject to dissolution. However, the Rajya Sabha, like
the Lok Sabha can be prorogued by the President. The Rajya Sabha has equal footing
in all areas of legislation with Lok Sabha, except in the area of supply, where the
Lok Sabha has overriding powers. In the case of conflicting legislation, a joint
sitting of the two houses can be held. However, since the Lok Sabha has twice as
many members as the Rajya Sabha, the former would normally hold the greater power.
Joint sittings of the Houses of Parliament of India are rare, and in the history of
the Republic, only three such joint-sessions have been held; the latest one for the
passage of the 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The Vice-President of India (currently, Venkaiah Naidu) is the ex-officio Chairman
of the Rajya Sabha, who presides over its sessions. The Deputy Chairman, who is
elected from amongst the house's members, takes care of the day-to-day matters of
the house in the absence of the Chairman. The Rajya Sabha held its first sitting on
13 May 1952.[6] The salary and other benefits for a member of Rajya Sabha are same
as for a member of Lok Sabha.

Rajya Sabha members are elected by state legislatures rather than directly through
the electorate by single transferable vote method.

Contents [hide]
1 Qualifications
2 Limitations
2.1 Money bills
2.2 Joint Sitting of the Parliament
2.3 No-confidence motion
3 Powers
3.1 Union-States Relations
3.2 Creation of All-India Services
4 Membership and composition
4.1 Membership by party
5 Officers
5.1 Leader of the House
5.2 Leader of the Opposition
6 Secretariat
7 Media
8 See also
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
Qualifications[edit]
Article 84 of the Constitution lays down the qualifications for membership of
Parliament. A member of the Rajya Sabha must[7]

Must be a citizen of India.

Must make and subscribe before some person authorized in that behalf by the
Election Commission an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the
purpose in the Third Schedule to the Constitution.
Must be at least 30 years old.
Must be elected by the Legislative Assembly of States and Union territories by
means of Single transferable vote through Proportional representation.[8]
Cannot be a proclaimed criminal.
Cannot be an insolvent, i.e. heshe should not be in debt that heshe is not capable
of repaying in a current manner and should have the ability to meet hisher
financial expenses.
Should not hold any other office of profit under the Government of India.
Should not be of unsound mind.
Must possess such other qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or
under any law made by Parliament.
In addition, twelve members are nominated by the President of India having special
knowledge in various areas like arts and science. However, they are not entitled to
vote in Presidential elections as per Article 55 of the Constitution.

Limitations[edit]
The Constitution of India places some restrictions on Rajya Sabha which makes Lok
Sabha more powerful in certain areas in comparison.

Money bills[edit]
Money bills, as defined in the Constitution of India Act 110, can only be
introduced in Lok Sabha. When Lok Sabha passes a money bill, and transmits it to
Rajya Sabha, Rajya Sabha has only fourteen days to return the bill (with or without
amendments) to Lok Sabha. If Rajya Sabha fails to return the bill in fourteen days,
that bill is deemed to have passed by both the Houses. Also, if Lok Sabha rejects
any (or all) of the amendments proposed by Rajya Sabha, the bill is deemed to have
been passed by both Houses of Parliament in the form Lok Sabha finally passes it.
Hence, Rajya Sabha cannot stall, or amend, a money bill without Lok Sabha's
concurrence on the same.[9]

Joint Sitting of the Parliament[edit]

Article 108 provides for a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament in certain
cases. A joint sitting can be convened by the President of India when one house has
either rejected a bill passed by the other house, has not taken any action on a
bill transmitted to it by the other house for six months, or has disagreed to the
amendments proposed by the Lok Sabha on a bill passed by it. Considering that the
numerical strength of Lok Sabha is more than twice that of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha
tends to have a greater influence in a joint sitting of Parliament. A joint session
is chaired by the Speaker of Lok Sabha. Also, because the joint session is convened
by the President on advice of the government, which already has a majority in Lok
Sabha, the joint session is usually convened to get bills passed through a Rajya
Sabha in which the government has a minority.

Joint sessions of Parliament are a rarity, and have been convened three times in
last 69 years, for the purpose of passage of a specific legislative act, the latest
time being in 2002

1961 Dowry Prohibition Act, 1958

1978 Banking Services Commission (Repeal) Act, 1977
2002 Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002
No-confidence motion[edit]
Unlike the Lok Sabha, a member of the Rajya Sabha cannot bring to the house a no-
confidence motion against the government.

Powers[edit]
In Indian federal structure, Rajya Sabha is a representative of the States in the
Union legislature (Hence the name, Council of States). Hence, Rajya Sabha is
granted powers that protect the rights of States against the Union.

Union-States Relations[edit]
The Constitution empowers Parliament of India to make laws on the matters reserved
for States (States List). However, this can only be done if Rajya Sabha first
passes a resolution by two-thirds special majority granting such a power to the
Union Parliament. The union government cannot make a law on a matter reserved for
states without any authorisation from Rajya Sabha.

Creation of All-India Services[edit]

Rajya Sabha, by a two-thirds super majority can pass a resolution empowering the
Government of India to create more All-India Services common to both Union and
States, including a judicial service.

Membership and composition[edit]

Seats are allotted in proportion to the population of people of each state or union
territory in such a manner that smaller states have slight advantage over more
populous states.[10] In addition, smaller Union Territories, which are not States
and which do not have legislatures, do not have representation in Rajya Sabha.
Hence, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu and Dadra &
Nagar Haveli do not send any representatives to Rajya Sabha. 12 members are
nominated by the President.[11][12]
As per the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution of India on 26 January 1950, the
Rajya Sabha was to consist of 216 members of which 12 members were to be nominated
by the President and the remaining 204 elected to represent the States.[12] The
present strength, however, is 245 members of whom 233 are representatives of the
states and union territories and 12 are nominated by the President.[12] The twelve
nominated members of the Rajya Sabha are persons who are eminent in particular
fields, and are well known contributors in the particular field. A few examples of
such nominated persons are cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar, former RBI Governor
Bimal Jalan and famous lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar. As of March 2014, each state
or union territory specified in the first column of the following table, there
shall be allotted the number of seats specified in the second column thereof
opposite to that State or that union territory, as the case may be[13]

Name of state and union territory No. of Seats

Andhra Pradesh[14] 11
Arunachal Pradesh 1
Assam 7
Bihar 16
Chhattisgarh 5
Goa 1
Gujarat 11
Haryana 5
Himachal Pradesh 3
Jammu & Kashmir 4
Jharkhand 6
Karnataka 12
Kerala 9
Madhya Pradesh 11
Maharashtra 19
Manipur 1
Meghalaya 1
Mizoram 1
Nagaland 1
National Capital Territory of Delhi 3
Nominated 12
Odisha 10
Puducherry 1
Punjab 7
Rajasthan 10
Sikkim 1
Tamil Nadu 18
Telangana[14] 7
Tripura 1
Uttar Pradesh 31
Uttarakhand 3
West Bengal 16
Total 245
Membership by party[edit]
Main article List of current members of the Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha Secretariat (As of 25 November 2017)[15]

Alliances Party MP
National Democratic Alliance
Seats 85 Bharatiya Janata Party 57
Janata Dal (United) 10
Telugu Desam Party 6
Shiromani Akali Dal 3
Shiv Sena 3
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party 2
Bodoland People's Front 1
Naga People's Front 1
Republican Party of India (A) 1
Sikkim Democratic Front 1
United Progressive Alliance
Seats 63 Indian National Congress 57
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 4
Indian Union Muslim League 1
Kerala Congress (M) 1
Janata Parivar
Seats 5 Rashtriya Janata Dal 3
Indian National Lok Dal 1
Janata Dal (Secular) 1
Other Parties
Seats 74 Samajwadi Party 18