Indian Parliament - How are the elections to the Lok Sabha different from that to the Rajya Sabha

My dear Young & Little  Indians,

 

You would be knowing that India is the largest democracy in the world.

Do you know India is also the mother of democracy ?

भारत विश्व का सबसे बड़ा प्रजातंत्र ही नहीं है ,भारत प्रजातंत्र की जननी भी है.

 

In a democracy the public rules. The administrator of the society/ country is someone from the public.

As opposed to this, in a autocracy an individual rules. Someone in the family line of the autocrat is the next administrator.

India got its name 'Bharat' भारत from Emperor Bharat भरत who ruled the subcontinent of India with its capital in Hastinapur हस्तिनापुर.   

 

Emperor Bharat did not appoint any of his sons as his successor (as a autocrat would normally do) as he found none of them capable enough to be a good administrator.

He appointed "Bhamanyu" भूमन्यू son of sage Bharadwaj  भारद्वाज to succeed him.

 

The man who made Bharat भारत ensured that the public and its interest remain supreme.

 

 

In today's times, the Parliament of the Democracy of भारत Bharat (India) has two houses.

The Lower house is called the Lok Sabha (House of the people जनता की सभा )

The Upper house is called the Rajya Sabha (House of the states राज्यों की सभा)

Members are elected to the Lok Sabha for 5 years and to the Rajya Sabha for 6 years.

The interesting part is- 

 

In the case of Lok Sabha all members are elected together in a General Election and all of them retire together when the Lok Sabha is dissolved after 5 years (or before). 

 

In the case of Rajya Sabha, every member has a term of 6 years. One-third of the members retire every two years and are replaced by new members. The Rajya Sabha is never dissolved.

 

The Rajya Sabha was established in 1952 and since then it has never been dissolved. Rajya Sabha is a permanent or perpetual house.

Elections to the Rajya Sabha are indirect elections meaning the general public does not elect members of the Rajya Sabha.

Members of Rajya Sabha are elected by members of State Assemblies who are called Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA).

This is the reason why Rajya Sabha is also known as the Council of states.

In the Lok Sabha elections (called General Elections), the candidate who gets the maximum number of votes is the winner. And the political group that wins the maximum number seats (or constituencies) forms the Govt. Decision is based on the principle of majority.

But the rule is different in case of Rajya Sabha elections. Here elections are based on the principle of proportionate representation.

 
This principle ensures that everyone –majority as well as minority group- has a say in the process of decision making.

Let us understand this with an example….
 

Suppose the strength of a State Assembly is 140. 

Members of the majority group (Govt) is 100 

Members of the minority group (Opposition ) is 40 

 

This assembly of 140 members has to elect 3 members for Rajya Sabha.

Now, if elections are held as per the rule of Lok Sabha elections then all 3 candidates will be elected as per the wish of the ruling party because they have a majority in the assembly.

However, as per the principle of proportionate representation, every candidate has to just win a minimum number of votes (also called quotient) in order to get elected.

The formula for calculating this quotient is-

1 + (No. of members in the State Assembly) / No. of members to be elected to Rajya Sabha) +1)

In the above example, the quotient will be –

1+ (140/4)=36

So every candidate has to secure 36 votes in order to get elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Now what will happen is-

Two candidates will get elected as per the wishes of the ruling party by securing a total of 72 votes out of 100 possible votes and 1 candidate will get elected as per the wish of the Opposition party by securing 36 out of 40 possible votes.

Effectively, the members elected to the Rajya Sabha will represent the State Assembly or the State and not just the ruling party of the state.

Please remember, the Rajya Sabha is the Council of States and not the Council of State Govts.
 

Jai Hind!

Gaurav Negi