Members to the Rajya are
elected (Sabha indirectly) or
nominated.
The Rajya Sabha is to consist of not more than 250 members – 238 members representing the States and Union Territories and 12 members nominated by the President. The distribution is on the basis of population.
The candidates are elected by the
Legislative Assembly of States and Union territories by means of
Single transferable vote through
Proportional representation. In other words, we elect the MLAs and the MLAs elect the Rajya Sabha members (who are nominated by their political party).
The elections are organised by the election commission of india.
The political party that has a majority in the state assembly normally gets to send the maximum number of MPs to the Rajya Sabha. The value of the vote of one MLA is calculated as follows.
However twelve members are nominated by the
President of India having special knowledge in various areas like Arts, Science etc. However they are not entitled to vote in Presidential elections as per Article 55 of
Indian Constitution.
Some more facts about the Rajya Sabha election:
- The allocation of seats in the Council of States to each State or Union territory is set out in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of India. This number is roughly in proportion to the State's population. A nominated member is not eligible to vote.
- According to Section 154 of the Representation of the People Act 1951, a Member so elected will hold office for a period of 6 years. A member chosen to fill a casual vacancy will serve for the remainder of his predecessor's term of office.
- According to Article 83 of the Constitution, the Council of States shall not be subject to dissolution, but, as nearly as possible, 1/3 of the members thereof retire as soon as may be on the expiration of every second year. Thus elections are staggered with 1/3 members being elected every 2 years.
- According to Article 80(4) of the Constitution, the representatives of each State in the Council of States shall be elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the State in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The procedure for counting of votes is laid down in the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961.
Sorry Bihar has only 16 RS seats
