NOMINATION TO RAJYA SABHA

Recently, the Central Government nominated 4 members to the Rajya Sabha. Soon, the Legislative Assemblies of 4 states will also elect 16 MPs to Rajya Sabha.

Nominated member

The four new nominated members in the Rajya Sabha are:

• Track and field icon -Pt Usha
• Musician- Ilaiyaraaja
• Telugu screenwriter- V Vijayendra Prasad, and
• Philanthropist and spiritual leader- Veerendra Hegade

All these members belong to four southern states, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.

The upper house of the parliament now has nine nominated members the other five are Lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, dancer Sonal Man Singh, politician Ram Shakal and the author and columnist Rakesh Sinha, and the former chief justice of India Ranjan Gogi.

Composition of Rajya Sabha

• The maximum strength of the Rajya Sabha is fixed at 250, out of which, 238 are to be the representatives of the states and union territories, which are elected indirectly and 12 are nominated by the President.
• At present, the Rajya Sabha has 245 members. Of these, 229 members represent the states, 4 members represent the union territories and 12 members are nominated by the President.

The Fourth Schedule of the Constitution deals with the allocation of seats in the Rajya Sabha to the States and the Union Territories.

Representation of States:

• The representatives of states in the Upper House of the parliament are elected by the elected members of state legislative assemblies.
• The election is held by the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (STV).
• The seats are allotted to the states in the Rajya Sabha based on population.
• Hence, the number of representatives in the Rajya Sabha varies from state to state. For instance, there are 31 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh and 1 from Goa.

Representation of Union Territories

• The representatives of each union territory in the Rajya Sabha are indirectly elected by the members of an electoral college specially constituted for the purpose.
• This election is also held by the System of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (STV).
• Out of the seven union territories, only two, Delhi and Puducherry have representation in Rajya Sabha.
• The populations of the other five union territories are too small to have any representative in the Rajya Sabha.

Nominated Members:

• The President nominates 12 members to the Rajya Sabha from people who have special knowledge or practical experience in art, literature, science, and social service.

Duration of Rajya Sabha

• The Rajya Sabha was first constituted in 1952 and is a continuing chamber, that is, it is a permanent body and not subject to dissolution like the Lok Sabha.
• To ensure continuity, one-third of its members retire after every second year, under Article 83(1) of the Indian Constitution.
• Their seats are filled up by fresh elections and Presidential nominations at the starting of every third year.
• The Parliament in the Representation of the People Act (1951) provided that the term of office of a member of the Rajya Sabha shall be six years.

Nominated member of Rajya Sabha

Constitutional provision

• Article 80 of the Constitution says that the Council of the State shall consist of (a) twelve members to be nominated by the President of India.

Power and privileges Of Nominated member

• Nominated members of Rajya Sabha enjoy all the power and privileges to which the elected members of the Parliament are entitled.
• They can also take part in the proceeding of the house in a normal manner.
• They get the same facilities as the MP’s of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha

Nominated members are not allowed to vote in the election of the President, but they can become part of the election of Vice- President of India.

Significance of Nominations

• The rationale behind this nomination is to provide an eminent person a place in the Rajya Sabha without going through the process of election.
• It gives an opportunity to those who might be willing to participate in the debate with an amount of learning and make the legislative work better with their experience and expertise.

Criticisms

• Poor attendance

There has been criticism that several nominated members have poor attendance and do not appear to show high interest in legislative work. In this context, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, actor Rekha, and businesswoman Anu Aga have faced huge criticism in recent years.

• The politicization of the nominated category

Over time, the high ideal of the nomination came to be eroded. Ruling dispensations have repeatedly used the nominated category to increase their numbers in the House, dispense favours, and get their preferred individuals into Parliament.

While a nominated member can join a political party within six months of taking his or her seat in the House, even those who remain technically independent are assumed to be aligned with the ruling regime.

Way Forward

N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, who was part of the Constitution Drafting Committee had argued that the nominated members are an asset to the nation because of their learning and they would actively contribute to the quality & depth of debate. This very purpose has been defeated many times, so it’s the responsibility of the government to add those members who can very well pour their expertise into debates and take their roles consciously.