Member of Parliament | |
---|---|
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs | |
Style |
|
Type | Upper house of the Parliament of India |
Status | Active |
Abbreviation | MP |
Member of | Rajya Sabha |
Reports to | Vice President of India |
Residence | Rajya Sabha chamber, Sansad Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi, India – 110001 |
Seat | Parliament of India |
Term length | 6 years; renewable |
Constituting instrument | Fourth schedule to the Constitution of India |
Formation | 26 January 1950 |
Deputy | Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha |
Salary | ₹400,000 (US$5,000) (incl. allowances) per month [1] |
Website | rajyasabha |
This article is part of a series on the |
Politics of India |
---|
Indiaportal |
A Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (abbreviated: MP) is the representative of the Indian states to one of the two houses of the Parliament of India (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 by a single transferable vote. Parliament of India is bicameral with two houses; Rajya Sabha (Upper house i.e. Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (Lower house i.e. House of the People). Compared to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha has fewer members and its members have more restricted power. [2] Unlike membership to the Lok Sabha, 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. [3]
Broad responsibilities of the members of parliament of Rajya Sabha are:
Members of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha enjoy special powers and responsibilities with regard to:
Unlike Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha can not be dissolved and is a permanent body, therefore members usually get chances to serve their full tenure unless they resign or vacate the seat due to death. One third of its members retire every two years. So each member has a term of six years [3]
A person must satisfy all following conditions to be qualified to become a member of parliament of the Rajya Sabha:
A person would be ineligible for being a Member of the Rajya Sabha if the person:
Membership in the Rajya Sabha is limited to 250 members, and up to 238 members are elected by the members of all the Vidhan Sabhas (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.)
The president of India is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu is the 15th and current president, having taken office from 25 July 2022.
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. As of 2023, it has a maximum membership of 250, of which 238 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using single transferable votes through open ballots, while the president can appoint 12 members for their contributions to art, literature, science, and social services. The total allowed capacity is 250 according to article 80 of the Indian Constitution. The current potential seating capacity of the Rajya Sabha is 245, after the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Act, 2019, the seats came down to 245. The maximum seats of 250 members can be filled up at the discretion and requirements of the house of Rajya 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-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, and they hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Parliament House, New Delhi.
The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. The President of India, in their role as head of the legislature, has full powers to summon and prorogue either house of Parliament or to dissolve the Lok Sabha, but they can exercise these powers only upon the advice of the Prime Minister and their Union Council of Ministers.
The Government of India, also known as the Central Government or simply the Centre, is the national authority of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, consisting of 28 union states and eight union territories.
The vice president of India is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in the order of precedence and first in the line of succession to the presidency. The vice president is also the ex officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
India has a parliamentary system as defined by its constitution, with power distributed between the central government and the states. India is the largest democracy in the world.
The speaker of the Lok Sabha is the presiding officer and the highest authority of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected generally in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha following general elections. Serving for a term of five years, the speaker is chosen from sitting members of the Lok Sabha.
A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district (constituency) to the legislature of State government in the Indian system of government. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Each state has between seven and nine MLAs for every Member of Parliament (MP) that it has in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's bicameral parliament. There are also members in three unicameral legislatures in Union Territories: the Delhi Legislative Assembly, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and the Puducherry Legislative Assembly. Only a Member of the Legislative Assembly can work as a minister for more than 6 months. If a non-Member of the Legislative Assembly becomes a Chief Minister or a minister, he must become an MLA within 6 months to continue in the job. Only a Member of the Legislative Assembly can become the Speaker of the Legislature.
The State Legislative Council, or Vidhan Parishad, or Saasana Mandali is the upper house in those states of India that have a bicameral state legislature; the lower house being the State Legislative Assembly. Its establishment is defined in Article 169 of the Constitution of India.
This is a brief description of the lawmaking procedure in India.
Tamil Nadu has a parliamentary system as defined by its constitution, with power distributed between the state government and the districts.
Elections in the state of Bihar, India are conducted in accordance with the Constitution of India. The Assembly of Bihar creates laws regarding the conduct of local body elections unilaterally while any changes by the state legislature to the conduct of state level elections need to be approved by the Parliament of India.
The Representation of the People Act, 1951 is an act of Parliament of India to provide for the conduct of election of the Houses of Parliament and to the House or Houses of the Legislature of each State, the qualifications and disqualifications for membership of those Houses, the corrupt practices and other offences at or in connection with such elections and the decision of doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with such elections. It was introduced in Parliament by law minister Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The Act was enacted by the provisional parliament under Article 327 of Indian Constitution, before the first general election.
Supreme Court of India, in its judgement dated 10 July 2013 while disposing the Lily Thomas v. Union of India case, ruled that any Member of Parliament (MP), Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) or Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) who is convicted of a crime and given a minimum of two years' imprisonment, loses membership of the House with immediate effect. This is in contrast to the earlier position, wherein convicted members held on to their seats until they exhausted all judicial remedy in lower, state and supreme court of India. Further, Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal their conviction, was declared unconstitutional by the bench of Justice A. K. Patnaik and Justice S. J. Mukhopadhaya.
A Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha is the representative of a legislative constituency in the Lok Sabha; the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of parliament of Lok Sabha are chosen by direct elections on the basis of the adult suffrage. The maximum permitted strength of members of parliament in the Lok Sabha is 550. This includes the maximum 530 members to represent the constituencies and states and up to 20 members to represent the union territories. Between 1952 and 2020, two seats were reserved for members of the Anglo-Indian community. The current elected strength of the Lok Sabha is 543. The party—or coalition of parties—having a majority in the Lok Sabha chooses the Prime Minister of India.
Telangana has a parliamentary system as defined by its constitution, with power distributed between the state government and the districts.
Puducherry has a parliamentary system as defined by its constitution, with power distributed between the union territory government and the districts.