RAJYA SABHA ELECTION CONTROVERSY

Subject: Polity

Context: Kerala RS polls: After Govt nudge, EC broke 25-yr tradition until HC stepped in.

Concept:

On March 23, a day before the Rajya Sabha elections were set to be notified, the Union Law Ministry wrote to the EC that since voting in Kerala would end April 6, holding Rajya Sabha elections on April 12 (before the results on May 2) “may not reflect the will of the people.”
Just a day after the Union Law Ministry made its suggestion, the Election Commission reversed its own order and went against a 25-year tradition to suspend elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Kerala.
That controversial move was rejected by the Kerala High Court and the three members were elected unopposed on April 23.

Process of Rajya Sabha Election

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 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, as the case may be, in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
The Rajya Sabha seat quota for each state is fixed as per Schedule 4 of the constitution. Elections to 1/3 of these seats occur every 2 years