Question

Why is the rajya sabha called the house of states ?
(A) Electoral college constitutes only the representative of state assemblies.
(B) Rajya sabha consists of members of legislature assemblies as its members.
(C) Rajya sabha elections are held along with the election to state assemblies.
(D) Rajya sabha is meant to protect the interest of the state in the federal setup.

Answer 1

Hint: - The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the first or upper house of the Indian Parliament. As its name suggests, it represents the units of the Union of India. It is a permanent house like the US Senate. It is neither broken nor is it ever re-created.

Complete solution:- According to Article 80 of the Constitution, the maximum number of its members can be -250, out of which 238 will be elected. And 12 will be nominated by the President. At present the actual strength of the Rajya Sabha is 245, of which 229 members represent the states and 4 members are elected from the union territories. Nominated members shall be those who have special or practical experience in literature, science, art and social service. The space allotted in the Rajya Sabha for the Legislative Assemblies of States and Union Territories is described in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution.
The representation of the states in the Rajya Sabha in India has been determined on the basis of population, according to which each state will get one seat on the basis of population of first fifty lakhs and one additional seat on the additional population of twenty lakhs. The Rajya Sabha at the time of the constitution came into force was a member-217. The current member number is -245 based on the year 1971 census.
The representatives of the Union-Territories are elected by the electoral college and members in the Rajya Sabha are elected indirectly. The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies by a single transferable vote according to the proportional method according to which the elected candidates have to obtain a fixed quota of votes.
Rajya Sabha is a permanent body and can never be dissolved. Each member of Rajya Sabha has a term of 6 years. Tenures of one-third of its members expire every second year. Therefore, one-third of the members are elected every second year. The term of office of the members starts from the date when the names of the members are notified in the Gazette by the Government of India.

So option A is the correct answer.

Note - The qualifications of the members of Rajya Sabha are such that he should be a citizen of India. For membership of Rajya Sabha, one has to be 30 years of age or above. He should not have assumed the post of profit under the Government of India or any State. Do not be insolvent, insane, foreign or non-citizens. Not disqualified by any law of Parliament.