RAJYA SABHA- The Parliament’s Upper House

 

About Rajya Sabha

The Council of States or the Rajya Sabha is the Parliament’s Upper House. It comprises of 250 members in totality, out of which 238 members are representatives of States and the remaining 12 members are nominees made by the President of India from among people with practical experience and expertise in field of Social Studies, Science, Arts and Literature. The elected members of State Legislative Assemblies elect the representatives of States in the Rajya Sabha.

The Legislative Assemblies are not present in the Union Territories; hence the members there are elected by the Electoral College which is especially formed for this very purpose. The members of Rajya Sabha are elected by ballot, which means by the principle of proportional representation.

Rajya Sabha’s History

The Second Chamber or the Council of States of the Parliament of India was comprised in 1952. It has been termed so as to significantly distinct Upper House from the Legislative Assembly. The principle reason for the formation of a legislative structure was to provide the representatives of the people with a democratic forum to restore the social and political togetherness of the nation. The first chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the first Vice President of India was DR. S. Radhakrishnan who set the definition of the fuction of the House broadly. He stated that the House is a superfluous body, hence it is incapable of forming or dissolving Governments but yet have functions such as being a revising Chamber.

Qualification required for becoming a Rajya Sabha member

The following qualifications must be possessed by a person who seeks to become a member of the Rajya Sabha:

• She/he must be a citizen of the Republic of India.

• She/he shall not less than 30 years old.

• He must be an elector on the Parliamentary level in State she/he wishes to seek election from.

• In the presence of an authorized person by the Election Commission of India, the candidate must pledge their allegiance to India’s Constitution.

• From time to time as the Parliament prescribes, the aspirant must possess the required qualifications.

Serving Term of Rajya Sabha Members

The Upper House or Rajya Sabha is not subjected to dissolution and is a permanent legislative structure. According to provisions made by the law, about 1/3rd of the members of Rajya Sabha retire after every 2 years of serving if they wish to do so. However, the election of members of Rajya Sabha is done every 6 years in order to maintain continuity and also be in line with the changing opinion of the people.

Chairman and Deputy Chairman: Presiding Officers of the Rajya Sabha

The ex- officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha is the Vice President of India and the Deputy Chairman, who presides over the House sitting in the Vice President’s absence, is elected by the House from among its members. The right to vote is not given to the Chairman, except in the case of a tie, in which the vote counts as the decider of the deadlock. The order of the House and the decorum is maintained by the Chairman and the proceedings of the House are conducted in accordance with the regulations of the Rajya Sabha. The Secretary-General holds the position equal the Union’s highest Civil servant and is elected by the Vice President who is under the control and direction of the Chairman.

Other Rajya Sabha Members

The other members of the Upper House or the Rajya Sabha are:

• The Prime Minister, Cabinet Minister or any other nominated Minister if member of the Rajya Sabha, is the Leader of the House.

• Commonly the leader of the largest minority party, is the Leader of Opposition who is a leader of minority parties.

Quorum

The number of members of the Rajya Sabha required for holding a House meeting is called a Quorum. The 1/10th of the total number of members of the Rajya Sabha form the Quorum.
Rajya Sabha’s Legislative Powers

Whether it is the Lower House (Lok Sabha) or the Upper House (Rajya Sabha), both of the Houses have an equal footing in the Legislative sphere. No matter in which House a Bill has originated from, it requires the approval of both the Houses of the Parliament in order to be brought into act.

Rajya Sabha’s Constituent Powers

The Amendments in the Constitution of India and relevant matters involve both the Houses equally. No matter in which House an Amendment has originated from, it requires the approval of both the Houses of the Parliament.

Powers exclusive to the Rajya Sabha

Although the Rajya Sabha has equal or inferior rights over the Lok Sabha in legislative and economical speheres, the Upper House also enjoys certain perks which are not provided to the Lower House of the Parliament.

As an example: The Rajya Sabha according to Article 312 of the Constitution has the authority to recommend creating of a new All India Service, which would serve the States’ requirements as well as of the Unions’.

Any Bill which is Non- financial needs the approval of the Rajya Sabha, even if it has been already approved by the Lok Sabha.

List of Rajya Sabha Members

 

A W Rabi Bernard
A W Rabi Bernard
Aayanur Manjunatha
Aayanur Manjunatha
Abhishek Manu Singhvi
Abhishek Manu Singhvi
Ahamed Hassan
Ahamed Hassan
Ahmed Patel
Ahmed Patel
Ajay Sancheti
Ajay Sancheti
Akhilesh Das Gupta
Akhilesh Das Gupta
Ali Anwar Ansari
Ali Anwar Ansari
Alok Tiwari
Alok Tiwari
Amar Singh
Amar Singh
Ambeth Rajan
Ambeth Rajan
Ambika Soni
Ambika Soni
Anand Sharma
Anand Sharma
Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu
Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu
Anil Desai
Anil Desai
Anil Kumar Sahani
Anil Madhav Dave
Anu Aga
Ak Antony
Arun Jaitley
Arvind Kumar Singh
Ashk Ali Tak
Ashok S. Ganguly
Ashwani Kumar
AV Swamy
Avinash Pande
Avinash Rai Khanna
Avtar Singh Karimpuri
B Jayashree
Baishnab Parida
Balwinder Singh Bhunder
Basawaraj Patil
Bashistha Narain Singh
Bhalchandra Mungekar
Bhubaneswar Kalita
Bhupender Yadav
Bhushan Lal Jangde
Bimla Kashyap Sood
Birender Singh
Biswajit Daimary
BK Hariprasad
Brajesh Pathak
Brijlal Khabri
Chandan Mitra
Charlady Munavver Saleem
Chunibhai Kanjibhai Gohel
CM Ramesh
CP Narayanan
CP Thakur
D Bandyopadhyay
Shri D. Raja
Darshan Singh Yadav
Derek O Brien
Devender Goud T
Dharmendra Pradhan
Dhiraj Prasad Sahu
Digvijaya Singh
Dilipbhai Pandya
Dp Tripathi
EM Sudarsana Natchiappan
G N Ratanpuri
Garikapati Mohan Rao
Ghulam Nabi Azad
Gundu Sudharani
Haji Abdul Salam
Hari Bansh Narayan Singh
Hishey Lachungpa
HK Dua
Husain Dalwai
Ishwarlal Shankarlal Jain
Jagat Prakash Nadda
Jairam Ramesh
Janardan Dwivedi
Javed Akhtar
Jaya Bachchan
Jesudasu Seelam
Jharna Das Baidya
Jogendranath Chowdhury
Joy Abraham
Jugul Kishore
K Chiranjeevi
K Keshava Rao
K Parasaran
K R Arjunan
K Rahman Khan
K Selvaraj
Kahkashan Perween
Kalpataru Das
Kanak Lata Singh
Kanimozhi
Kanwar Deep Singh
Kaptan Singh Solanki
Karan Singh
KC Tyagi
Khekiho Zhimomi
Kiranmay Nanda
KN Balagopal
KP Ramalingam
Shri K.T.S. Tulsi
Kumari Selja
Kunal Kumar Ghosh
Kusum Rai
Kvp Ramachandra Rao
Lal Sinh Vadodia
Lalhming Liana
M Rama Jois
M Venkaiah Naidu
Madhusudan Mistry
Mahendra Prasad
Mahendra Singh Mahra
Majeed Memon
Mani Shankar Aiyar
Manmohan Singh
Mansukh L Mandaviya
KM Mayawati
MD Nadimul Haque
Mithun Chakraborty
Mohammad Shafi
Mohammed Adeeb
Mohd Ali Khan
Mohsina Kidwai
Motilal Vora
MP Achuthan
Mrinal Miri
MS Gill
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Mukul Roy
Munquad Ali
Murli Deora
Najma A Heptulla
Nand Kumar Sai
Narayan Lal Panchariya
Narendra Budania
Narendra Kumar Kashyap
Naresh Agrawal
Naresh Gujral
Naznin Faruque
Oscar Fernandes
P Bhattacharya
P Kannan
P Rajeeve
Palvai Govardhan Reddy
Pankaj Bora
Parimal Nathwani
Parvez Hashmi
Paul Manoj Pandian
Piyush Goyal
PJ Kurien
Prabhakar Kore
Prabhat Jha
Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu
Pramod Tiwari
Praveen Rashtrapal
Prem Chand Gupta
Pyarimohan Mohapatra
R K Sinha
R Lakshmanan
Rajani Patil
Rajaram
Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Rajeev Shukla
Rajkumar Dhoot
Rajpal Singh Saini
Ram Gopal Yadav
Ram Jethmalani
Ram Kumar Kashyap
Ram Narain Dudi
Ram Nath Thakur
Ramchandra Prasad Singh
Ramdas Athawale
Ranbir Singh Parjapati
Rangasayee Ramakrishna
Ranjib Biswal
Ranvijay Singh Judev
Ravi Shankar Prasad
Rekha
Renuka Chowdhury
Ritabrata Banerjee
S Muthukaruppan
S Thangavelu
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
Saif Ud Din Soz
Salim Ansari
Sanjay Dattatraya Kakade
Sanjay Raut
Sanjay Sinh
Sanjiv Kumar
Santiuse Kujur
Sardar Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa
Sarojini Hembram
Sasikala Pushpa
Satish Chandra Misra
Satish Sharma
Satyanarayan Jatiya
Satyavrat Chaturvedi
Shadi Lal Batra
Shambhuprasad Baldevdasji Tundiya
Shankarbhai N Vegad
Shantaram Naik
Sharad Pawar
Sitaram Yechury
SM Krishna
Smriti Zubin Irani
Srinjoy Bose
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy
T Rathinavel
T Subbarami Reddy
Tapan Kumar Sen
Tarun Vijay
Thaawar Chand Gehlot
Thota Seetharama Lakshmi
Tirkey Dilip Kumar
Tiruchi Siva
TK Rangarajan
T. N. Seema
V Hanumantha Rao
V Maitreyan
Vandana Chavan
Vayalar Ravi
Veer Singh
Vijay Goel
Vijay Jawaharlal Darda
Vijay Mallya
Vijaylaxmi Sadho
Vijila Sathyananth
Vinay Katiyar
Viplove Thakur
Vivek Gupta
VP Singh Badnore
Wansuk Syiem
Y S Chowdary

 

Nominee Members of Rajya Sabha

 

Sno. Name Party Sno. Name Party
1 Ms. Anu Aga Nominated 7 Prof. Mrinal Miri Nominated
2 Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar INC 8 Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar INC
3 Shri Javed Akhtar Nominated 9 Shri K. Parasaran Nominated
4 Shri H.K. Dua Nominated 10 Ms. Rekha Nominated
5 Dr. Ashok S. Ganguly Nominated 11 Shri Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar Nominated
6 Smt. B. Jayashree Nominated 12 Shri K.T.S. Tulsi Nominated