Rajya Sabha

Council of States राज्य सभा Rājya Sabhā
Type
Type	Upper House of Parliament of India
Leadership
The Chairman	Mohammad Hamid Ansari, I since 11 August 2007 [1]
Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha	K. Rahman Khan, INC since 3 January 2007 [2]
Leader of the House	Dr Manmohan Singh, INC since 22 May 2004 [3]
Leader of Opposition	Arun Jaitley, BJP since 3 June 2009 [3]
Members	245 [3]
Political groups	UPA
Meeting place
Chamber of Rajya Sabha, Sansad Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi
Website
rajyasabha.nic.in

The Rajya Sabha (Hindi: राज्य सभा) or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state,"^[4] and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit^[5]. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature, science, and social services. These members are known as nominated members. The remainder of the body is elected by the state and territorial legislatures. Terms of office are six years, with one third of the members retiring every two years.

The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous sessions and, unlike the Lok Sabha, is not subject to dissolution. The Rajya Sabha has equal footing in all areas of legislation with Lok Sabha, except in the area of supply, where the Lok Sabha has overriding powers. In the case of conflicting legislation, a joint sitting of the two houses is held.

However, since the Lok Sabha has twice as many members as the Rajya Sabha, it would normally hold the greater power in such joint sessions. Only three joint sessions have been held; the last one was for the passage of the anti-terror law POTA in 2002.

The Vice-President of India (currently, Hamid Ansari) is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, who is elected from amongst its members, takes care of the day-to-day matters of the house in the absence of the Chairman. The Rajya Sabha held its first sitting on 13 May 1952.^[6]

Membership

Main article: Members of Rajya Sabha

The Rajya Sabha has at most 250 members, of which 238 are elected indirectly by the legislatures of each state and union territory. (As of 2011^[update], however, the only union territories with their own legislatures are the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Puducherry). Seats are allotted in proportion to the population of each state or union territory. The other 12 members are nominated by the President of India.^{[citation needed]}

Membership by party

Members by Party Source: Election Commission of India^[7] (as of 09/06/2011)

Alliances (after 2010 election)	Party	MPs
United Progressive Alliance Seats: 91	Indian National Congress	71
	Nationalist Congress Party	7
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	7
	All India Trinamool Congress	3
	National Conference	2
	Bodoland People's Front	1
National Democratic Alliance Seats: 69	Bharatiya Janata Party	51
	Janata Dal (United)	7
	Shiv Sena	4
	Shiromani Akali Dal	3
	Asom Gana Parishad	2
	Rashtriya Lok Dal	1
	Indian National Lok Dal	1
Third Front Seats: 34	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	13
	Biju Janata Dal	6
	Communist Party of India	5
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5
	Telugu Desam Party	4
	All India Forward Block	1
Parties supporting UPA from outside Seats: 32	Samajwadi Party	5
	Bahujan Samaj Party	18
	Rashtriya Janata Dal	4
	Lok Janshakti Party	2
	Mizo National Front	1
	Sikkim Democratic Front	1
	Nagaland People's Front	1
Nominated		8
Other Parties and Independents		6
Vacant Seats		1
Total		245

See also

• Members of Rajya Sabha
• Lok Sabha
• Politics of India
• Parliament of India
• Lawmaking procedure in India

References

1. ^ "Hon'ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Parliament of India". rajyasabha.nic.in. http://164.100.47.5/Chairman-Rajyasabha/Default.aspx. Retrieved 19 August 2011. 
2. ^ "Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Parliament of India". http://164.100.47.7/deputychairman/. Retrieved 19 August 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "RAJYA SABHA - AN INTRODUCTION". rajyasabha.nic.in. http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/about_parliament/rajya_sabha_introduction.asp. Retrieved 19 August 2011. 
4. ^ Tamilcube.com: [1], Tamil Cube, September 9, 2011.
5. ^ Tamilcube.com: [2], Tamil Cube, September 9, 2011.
6. ^ "OUR PARLIAMENT". Indian Parliament. http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/intro/p1.htm. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
7. ^ http://164.100.47.5:8080/members/PartyPosition.asp

Further reading

• The Nominated Members of India's Council of States: A Study of Role-Definition J. H. Proctor, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 1, Feb., 1985), pp. 53-70.

External links

• Report card: Muslim Members of Rajya Sabha during July-Aug ’09 session - TCN News
• Rajya Sabha homepage hosted by the Indian government
• Rajya Sabha FAQ page hosted by the Indian government
• Report 37 Rajya Sabha members have criminal
• Nominated members list
• State wise list