The Rajya Sabha elections in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka witnessed cross-voting by MLAs belonging to different parties. This has once again raised concerns about the sanctity of the election process.
How Are Rajya Sabha Elections Held?
- As per Article 80 of the Constitution, representatives of each State to the Rajya Sabha are elected indirectly by the elected members of their Legislative Assembly.
- The polls for Rajya Sabha will be required only if the number of candidates exceed the number of vacancies.
- In fact, till 1998, the outcome of Rajya Sabha elections were usually a foregone conclusion. The candidates nominated by various parties, according to their strength in the Assembly, used to be elected unopposed.
- However, the June 1998 Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra witnessed cross-voting that resulted in the loss of a Congress party candidate.
- In order to rein in the MLAs from such cross-voting, an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, 1951 was carried out in 2003.
- Section 59 of the Act was amended to provide that the voting in elections to Rajya Sabha shall be through an open ballot.
- The MLAs of political parties are required to show their ballot paper to the authorised agent of their Party.
- Not showing the ballot paper to the authorised agent or showing it to anyone else will disqualify the vote. Independent MLAs are barred from showing their ballots to anyone.
The Tenth Schedule and Its Implications on Rajya Sabha Elections
- The 52nd constitutional amendment introduced the ‘anti-defection’ law through the Tenth Schedule in 1985.
- This Schedule provides that a member of a House of Parliament or State legislature who voluntarily gives up the membership of their political party or votes against the instructions of their party in a House are liable for disqualification from such House.
- This instruction with respect to voting is issued by the ‘whip’ of a party.
- However, the elections to Rajya Sabha are not treated as a proceeding within the Legislative Assembly.
- The Election Commission, drawing reference to Supreme Court judgments, had issued a clarification in July 2017.
- It specified that the provisions of the Tenth Schedule, with respect to voting against the instruction of the party, will not be applicable for a Rajya Sabha election. Furthermore, political parties cannot issue any ‘whip’ to its members for such elections
Judicial Precedents on Rajya Sabha Elections
- The Supreme Court in Kuldip Nayar versus Union of India (2006), upheld the system of open ballot for Rajya Sabha elections.
- It reasoned that if secrecy becomes a source for corruption, then transparency has the capacity to remove it.
- However, in the same case the court held that an elected MLA of a political party would not face disqualification under the Tenth Schedule for voting against their party candidate. He/she may at the most attract disciplinary action from their political party.
- The Supreme Court has also held in Ravi S. Naik and Sanjay Bandekar versus Union of India (1994), that voluntarily giving up membership under the Tenth Schedule is not synonymous with only formally resigning from the party to which the member belongs.
- The conduct of a member both inside and outside the house can be looked into to infer if it qualifies as voluntarily giving up membership.
Cross Voting in Rajya Sabha Elections
- Cross voting can occur when members of a political party vote for candidates from other parties instead of the candidates nominated by their own party.
- This can happen due to various reasons, including disagreement with the party’s candidate selection, inducements or pressures from other parties, personal relationships with candidates from other parties, or ideological differences.
- Cross-voting can undermine the representation of the electorate.
- Cross-voting often occurs due to bribery or other corrupt practices. This undermines the integrity of the electoral process and erodes public trust in democracy.
- But Cross-voting can signal a degree of independence among elected representatives, allowing them to vote according to their conscience or the interests of their constituents rather than strict party lines.
- It can prevent the concentration of power and promote greater balance and diversity of viewpoints.
What is Rajya Sabha?
- The Rajya Sabha or the Upper House of Parliament is modelled after the House of Lords in the United Kingdom.
- The Rajya Sabha currently has 245 members, including 233 elected members and 12 nominated. As per the constitutional limit, the Upper House strength cannot exceed 250.
- While 233 members are elected from states and Union Territories (UTs), the President of India nominates the remaining 12 from the fields of art, literature, science and social services.
- The number of Rajya Sabha members a state can send depends on its population. Hence, the number of elected seat changes as states are merged, bifurcated or new ones are created.
- The Vice-President is the ex-officio chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
- The Deputy Chairman, who is elected from amongst the house’s members, takes care of the day-to-day matters of the house in the absence of the Chairman.
- Every Rajya Sabha MP has a tenure of six years and elections to one-third seats are held every two years.
- According to Section 154 of the Representation of the People Act 1951, a member has chosen to fill a casual vacancy will serve for the remainder of his predecessor’s term of office.
- The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous sessions, and unlike the Lok Sabha, is not subjected to dissolution. However, the Rajya Sabha, like the Lok Sabha can be prorogued by the President
Understanding the Rajya Sabha Election Process
- While Lok Sabha members are elected directly by the voters, Rajya Sabha members are elected indirectly by the people, that is, by the elected Members of a state’s Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
- MLAs vote in the Rajya Sabha elections in what is called proportional representation with the single transferable vote (STV) system. Each MLA’s vote is counted only once.
- In this system, MLAs don’t vote for each seat.
- Instead, the MLAs are given a paper with the names of all candidates. They have to give their order of preference for each candidate, marking 1,2,3… against their names.
- If a qualifying number of voters choose a candidate as their first choice, he or she is elected.
- The remaining votes go to the next candidates but with a lesser value. So, MLAs also vote for candidates from other parties.
- The candidate that gets rank 1 from an MLA secures a first preference vote. In order to win, a candidate needs a specific number of such first-preference votes. This number depends on the strength of the state Assembly and the number of MPs it sends to Rajya Sabha.
Conclusion
The Rajya Sabha election process, while designed to reflect the will of the people indirectly, is not without challenges. Issues such as cross-voting and the application of the anti-defection law continue to spark debates about the fairness and transparency of the system. As India’s Rajya Sabha continues to evolve, reforms in the election process and a closer look at electoral integrity will be necessary to ensure that it remains a fair and credible body representing diverse voices from across the country.
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