News:The Election Commission has said that polling for 55 Rajya Sabha seats spread over 17 States would be held on March 26,2020.
Facts:
About Rajya Sabha:
- The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India.
- The Vice-President is the ex-officio chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
- It is a Permanent House and is not subject to dissolution as per Article 83(1) of the Constitution of India.
Composition of House:
- Article 80 of the Constitution lays down the maximum strength of Rajya Sabha as 250 out of which 12 members are nominated by the President and 238 are representatives of the States and of the two Union Territories.
- However,the present strength of Rajya Sabha is 245, out of which 233 are representatives of the States and Union territories of Delhi and Puducherry and 12 are nominated by the President.
- The members nominated by the President are persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as literature, science, art and social service.
Allocation of Seats:
- The Fourth Schedule to the Constitution provides for allocation of seats to the States and Union Territories in Rajya Sabha.The allocation of seats is made on the basis of the population of each State.
Tenure of Rajya Sabha:
- Every Rajya Sabha MP has a tenure of six years and elections to one-third seats are held every two years.
Electoral Process:
- Article 80(4) of the Constitution of India provides that members of Rajya Sabha shall be elected by the elected members of State Legislative Assemblies through the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.Each MLAs vote is counted only once.
- In order to win a Rajya Sabha seat, a candidate should get a required number of votes.The number is found out using the formula: Required vote = Total number of votes / (Number of Rajya Sabha seats + 1 ) + 1.
