A Member of Parliament in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

(

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

: MP) is the representative of the

Indian states India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

to the one of the two houses of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

(Rajya Sabha). Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by the electoral college of the elected members of the State Assembly with a system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

by a

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

. Parliament of India is

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...

with two houses;

(

Upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

i.e. Council of States) and the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

(

Lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

i.e. House of the People). The total number of members of Rajya Sabha are lesser than the Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha and have more restricted power than the lower house (Lok Sabha). Unlike membership to the

, membership to the Rajya Sabha is permanent body and cannot be dissolved at any time. However every second year, one third of the members are retired and vacancy are filled up by fresh elections and Presidential nomination at the beginning of every third year.

Responsibilities of the members of parliament

Broad responsibilities of the members of parliament of Rajya Sabha are: *

Legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

responsibility: To pass Laws of India in the Rajya Sabha. *

Oversight Oversight may refer to: Governance *Regulation – rulemaking *Separation of powers in state governance (checks and balances) - the concept of separate branches of government or agencies exercising authority over one another *Checks and control ...

responsibility: To ensure that the executive (i.e. government) performs its duties satisfactorily. * Representative responsibility: To represent the views and aspirations of the people of their constituency in the Parliament of India (Rajya Sabha). *

Power of the purse The power of the purse is the ability of one group to manipulate and control the actions of another group by withholding funding, or putting stipulations on the use of funds. The power of the purse can be used positively (e.g. awarding extra fund ...

responsibility: To approve and oversee the revenues and expenditures proposed by the government. * The

Union Council of Ministers The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...

, who are also members of parliament have an additional responsibility of the executive as compared to those who are not in the Council of Ministers.

Special powers

Members of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha enjoy special powers and responsibilities with regard to: * Making laws on any subject in the

State List The State List or List-II is a list of 61 items. Initially there were 66 items in the list in Schedule Seven to the Constitution of India. The legislative section is divided into three lists: the Union List, the State List and the Concurrent List ...

; * Making laws to create

services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...

at national level.

Term

Unlike membership to the Lok Sabha, membership to the Rajya Sabha is permanent. One third of its members retire every two years. So each member has a term of six years

Qualifications for being a member of parliament

A person must satisfy all following conditions to be qualified to become a member of parliament of the Rajya Sabha: * Must be a

citizen of India Indian nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds Indian nationality. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the Constitution of India and the Citizenship Act, 1955. All persons born in Ind ...

* 30 years of age

Disqualifications for being a member of parliament

A person would be ineligible for being a Member of the Rajya Sabha if the person: * Holds any office of profit under the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

(other than an office permitted by Parliament of India by law). * Is of unsound mind. * Is an undischarged

insolvent In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet inso ...

. * Has ceased to be a citizen of India. * Is so disqualified by any law made by the Indian Parliament. * Is so disqualified on the ground of

defection In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

. * Has been

convicted In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which is consid ...

, among other things, for promoting enmity between different groups. * Has been convicted for offence of

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

. * Has been punished for preaching and practicing social crimes such as

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

sati Sati or SATI may refer to: Entertainment * ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi * ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike *Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer *Sati, a character in ''Th ...

. * Has been convicted for an offence and sentenced to imprisonment. * Has been dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the State (in case of a government servant).

Composition/strength

Membership in the Rajya Sabha is limited to 250 members, and up to 238 members are elected by the members of all the

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

s (individual state legislatures) and up to 12 are nominated by the President for their contributions to art, literature, science, and social services. The strength can be lower than 250: the current one is at 245. (See next section on members.)

Members of the Rajya Sabha

References

{{Parliament of India Rajya Sabha Members of the Parliament of India