Elections to 57 seats of Rajya Sabha are going to be held on June 10. The last date for filing nominations is 31 May. This biennial election this time is crucial as the Presidential elections are due in July. The Rajya Sabha i.e. the upper house was formed during the British times. Then it was called the Council of State.

A total of 238 members are elected in the Rajya Sabha, while the President can nominate a maximum of 12 members. As per the Constitution, its strength cannot exceed 250. Rajya Sabha Elections 2022: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray Calls Meeting of All MVA MLAs on June 7

Out of these, the term of one-third of the members ends every 2 years, so elections are held for that number of seats. According to Section 154 of the Representation of the People Act 1951, a member chosen to fill a casual vacancy will serve for the remainder of his predecessor's term of office.

The process of election to the Rajya Sabha is different from the Lok Sabha and state elections and the term of its member is 6 years. Rajya Sabha Elections 2022: Six in Fray for Four RS Seats in Rajasthan

The Vice-President of India is the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. Unlike the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha is a ‘permanent body’ and is never dissolved.

Rajya Sabha members are chosen through indirect elections –  elected members of legislative Assemblies or MLAs vote for members.

Members of a state's Legislative Assembly 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. But MLAs don’t vote for each seat.

Instead, members must list the different candidates in order of preference from 1 to 10. If 10 or more members choose a candidate as their first choice, he or she is elected.

As candidates are elected, the ‘surplus’ votes of MLAs are transferred to the next candidates’ kitty, but with a diminished value. This is important as it allows MLAs to vote for candidates from other parties.

To stop cross-voting induced by corruption, each MLA must show his or her vote to an authorised agent of the party.

If an MLA does not show his or her ballot to the agent, the vote cannot be counted.

Independent candidates cannot show their ballots to anyone.

Simply put, every candidate in the race requires one-fourth of the total number of votes plus one to get elected. Each voter ranks his preferences and if the candidate who is the first choice has enough votes already or no chance of being elected, the vote is transferred to the second choice and so on.

Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha are picked by the President of India. These MPs are luminaries from the world of economics, sports, literature, art, social service etc.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 06, 2022 03:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).