Duration of Rajya Sabha

Introduction:

The Indian Parliament is the highest legislative power in the country. Its structure is bicameral in nature comprising The President of India and the two houses- Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and Lok Sabha (House of the People). The members of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by the people of India via the general elections every five years. The Rajya Sabha members are directly elected by the State legislative Assemblies. The Indian legislature is tasked with forming policies and laws that are responsible for governing the nation. They also establish the governments’ budget and can also impeach members of the office if deemed necessary.  

Composition of the Indian Parliament: The Sansad Bhawan is the meeting place for the parliament meetings. The composition of the Indian parliament can be understood as:

• President of India: The President is the head of the state and under article 60 and 111 is responsible in ensuring that the laws passed by the parliament are consistent with the constitution of India. He is elected by the members of the parliament and state legislatures. He serves a term of 5 years.

• Rajya Sabha:The Rajya Sabha is the upper house of the Indian parliament. It is the permanent body of the legislature and cannot be dissolved. The members are indirectly elected by members of state legislatures. The Rajya Sabha has a maximum capacity of 250 members. The current strength of the house is at 245 out of which 233 have been elected by the State legislatures and 12 are nominated by the President. The number of members selected from each state depends on the population of the state.

• Lok Sabha:It is the lower house in the Indian Parliament. It has a strength of 543 members. All are directly elected by the people from different constituencies. The Lok Sabha generally holds a term for 5 years unless the house is dissolved due to some unforeseen circumstances. The Lok Sabha is headed by the Speaker. The current speaker of the Lok Sabha is Om Birla. The Lok Sabha has greater power than the Rajya Sabha which has to be the case as all the members of the Lok Sabha are elected directly by the people.Some of the powers of the Lok Sabha are:

• Motions of no confidence can only be introduced and passed by the Lok Sabha.

• Money Bills can only be introduced by the Lok Sabha.

• When there is a deadlock in the matter of passing a bill between the two houses then we have a joint session which is headed by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

If the Lok Sabha is dissolved before or after a national emergency, the Rajya Sabha attains sole leadership of the parliament. This form of more power with the Lok Sabha is consistent with any form of democratic legislature.

Duration of Rajya Sabha Member:Rajya Sabha members are elected as representatives of the states and union territories via an indirect election. They are selected by the members of the state legislative assemblies through the system of proportional representation by a single transferable vote. This accounts for the 233 members of the Rajya Sabha while 12 members are elected directly by the president such as- Dr. Zakir Hussain (Educationist), Prof. Satyendranath Bose (Scientist), Shri Bimal Jalan (Economist) to name a few.  This is in accordance to Article 80 which allottes a total of 238 members from the state legislatures and 12 others elected by the President.

The duration of Rajya Sabha member is six years. This is staggered as one-third of the members are changed every two years. These elections happen in even years. Thus at any moment the house cannot be dissolved. This is of prime importance as in times of national emergency with the Lok Sabha being dissolved the Rajya Sabha takes prime leadership of the Parliament. 

This being said the Rajya Sabha generally enjoys less importance than the Lok Sabha, but still it plays a key role in the formation of laws that govern India.

Conclusion

We went through the workings and composition of the different houses of the parliament which are the pillars of the Indian Legislature. We discussed how the various representatives from the different houses are elected and the duration of Rajya Sabha. Further we studied about the importance of the houses which have been clearly laid out in our Indian Constitution. India is the biggest democracy in the world. Thus it is a great responsibility for any member who is elected as a member of the parliament irrespective of the house. They are carrying the voices of millions of citizens who will be directly affected by the various bills and decisions passed in the Legislature.