2016 Rajya Sabha polls will be messy, but do you know the voting process?

On June 11, India will see elections for the Upper House of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha. The contest for 57 seats this time around will be a keenly watched one. The BJP, which is a minority in Rajya Sabha, is desperate to outnumber the Congress, to ensure safe passage of key legislations. The elections have also revealed the ugly side of politics: a sting operation by India Today TV exposed horse-trading of Karnataka MLAs and the possibility of cross-voting.

The Rajya Sabha polls are not only murky, but also complex to understand. While Lok Sabha members are voted directly by the people, their Upper House counterparts are voted by the elected representatives of the state Assemblies (MLAs). It is important to note, members of Parliament (MPs) and members of legislative councils (MLCs) do not vote in Rajya Sabha polls.

Brief overview of Rajya Sabha

The Council of States, or the Rajya Sabha, was created because the Constituent Assembly decided to have a bicameral legislature for a vast country like India, with immense diversities.

A single, directly-elected House was deemed inadequate to meet the challenges before a free India. The Council of States was, therefore, created with altogether a different composition and method of election from that of the directly-elected House of the People.

Composition

The Council of States is a smaller chamber compared to the House of the People. It is a federal chamber - a House elected by the elected members of Assemblies of the states and two Union Territories (Delhi and Puducherry) in which states were not given equal representation.

Apart from the elected members, provision was also made for the nomination of 12 members to the House by the President. The minimum age of 30 years was fixed for membership as against 25 years for the Lok Sabha. The vice-president of India is the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, thus adding weight to the Upper House.

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. The number of elected seats in the Rajya Sabha allotted to the states and Union Territories has changed from time to time since 1952 owing to the reorganisation of states and formation of new states.

Qualifications

According to Article 84 of the Constitution, a person to be qualified for the membership of the Rajya Sabha should posses the following qualifications:

(i) he must be a citizen of India and make and subscribe before some person authorised in that behalf by the Election Commission an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule to the Constitution;

(ii) he must be not less than 30 years of age; and

(iii) he must possess such other qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or under any law made by Parliament.

Electoral college

The representatives of the states and of the Union Territories in the Rajya Sabha are elected by the method of indirect election. The representatives of each state and two Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of that state and by the members of the electoral college for that Union Territory only, as the case may be, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. Members of Parliament or members of Legislative Councils do not vote in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Also read - The Rajya Sabha natak in Karnataka

The Rajya Sabha is a permanent House and does not got dissolved. However, one-third members of the Rajya Sabha retire after every second year. A member who is elected for a full term serves for a period of six years.

Allocation of seats

Accroding to Article 80 of the Constitution, the maximum strength of the Rajya Sabha is 250, out of which 12 members are nominated by the President and 238 are representatives of the states and of the two Union Territories. The present strength of the Rajya Sabha, however, 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 allocation of seats filled by representatives of the states and Union Territories as laid down in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution is as follows:

Andhra Pradesh (18), Arunachal Pradesh (1), Assam (7), Bihar (16), Chhattisgarh (5), Goa (1), Gujarat (11), Haryana (5), Himachal Pradesh (3), Jammu and Kashmir (4), Jharkhand (6), Karnataka (12), Kerala (9), Madhya Pradesh (11), Maharashtra (19), Manipur (1), Meghalaya (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Orissa (10), Punjab (7), Rajasthan (10), Sikkim (1), Tamil Nadu (18), Tripura (1), Uttarakhand (3), Uttar Pradesh (31), West Bengal (16), Delhi (3) and Pondicherry (1).

Elections 2016

Elections will be held on June 11 in the following 15 states:

Andhra Pradesh (4 seats), Telangana (2), Chhattisgarh (2), Madhya Pradesh (3), Tamil Nadu (6), Karnataka (4), Odisha (3), Maharashtra (6), Punjab (2), Rajasthan (4), Uttar Pradesh (11), Uttarakhand (1), Bihar (5), Jharkhand (2) and Haryana (2 seats).

The complicated voting procedure

The system of election of members to the Rajya Sabha is by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The single vote is transferable from one nominee to another and that takes place in two contingencies where there would otherwise be a wastage of votes. They are:

(i) when a candidate obtains more than what is required for his success and, therefore, has an unnecessary surplus; and

(ii) when a candidate polls so few votes that he has absolutely no chance and, therefore, the votes nominating him are liable to be wasted.

Also read - Why 2016 Rajya Sabha elections will be dirty

Under the rules, each elector has only one vote, irrespective of the number of seats to be filled. But that single vote is transferable from one candidate to another. The ballot paper bears the names of the candidates, and the elector marks on it his preferences for the candidates with the figures 1,2,3,4 and so on against the names, indicating therefore his order of choice.

The minimum number of valid votes required to secure the return of a candidate at the election is called the quota. At an election where more than one seat are to be filled, every ballot paper is deemed to be of the value of 100 and the quota is determined by adding the values credited to all the candidates and dividing the total by a number which exceeds by one the number of vacancies to be filled and adding one to the quotient ignoring the remainder, if any, and the resulting number is the quota.

Case of Karanataka

Let us take the elections in Karnataka, which is in the news because of the India Today TV sting which exposed bribes amounting to multiple crores at play and the possibility of cross-voting. For example, there are four members to be elected, and 224 MLAs as electors whose ballot papers are valid. In this case, the quota will be found out with the help of this formula:

224 x 100/4 + 1

= 22,400/5

= 4,480

Hence, Quotient is 4,480.

Quota = Quotient + 1

= 4,480 + 1

Hence, quota is 4,481.

As the value of the vote of each MLA is 100 and there is more than one vacancy, the quota is divided by 100 to get the number of votes required by a candidate to win.

In the case of Karnataka, 4,481/100 = 44.81. This is rounded off to 45 as the value of decimal number is more than 0.5.

Hence, a candidate needs 45 votes to win elections. The Congress has 122 MLAs. Assuming that there is no cross-voting, it will easily win two seats. Plus, it will have 32 surplus votes. The party will require 13 more votes to win one more candidate.

Also read - Rot of cross-voting in Rajya Sabha is not just Election Commission's problem

On the other hand, former prime minister HD Deve Gowda JD(S) has 40 MLAs. It requires five MLAs to win one Rajya Sabha seat.

And this is the reason why horse-trading takes place on such a massive scale. Candidates and political parties allegedly indulge in buying of votes by paying bribes to the voters. The independent MLAs are the ones to be courted first. Even party MLAs are not spared.

The problem is compounded because cross-voting is allowed in the election to the Rajya Sabha. This is different from the voting inside the Assembly during a session which is presided over by the Speaker, and whips are issued by political parties and any MLA violating it attracts the provisions of anti-defection law. But the elections to the Rajya Sabha are not held under the watch of any presiding officer.

However, while cross-voting is not unlawful, it certainly is unethical. BJP president Amit Shah on June 7 said action should be taken in case of horse-trading. Hence, there certainly is a need for the Election Commission of India, which conducts elections to the Rajya Sabha, to suggest systemic changes and amendment to the Constitution to check the open horse-trading.