{"id":62308,"date":"2025-09-07T12:42:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T07:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=62308"},"modified":"2025-09-08T13:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T07:47:08","slug":"representation-in-the-rajya-sabha-upper-house-of-the-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/representation-in-the-rajya-sabha-upper-house-of-the-parliament\/","title":{"rendered":"Representation in the Rajya Sabha\/Upper House of the Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Rajya Sabha Latest News<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union Law and Justice Ministry recently <\/span><b>rejected <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Election Commission\u2019s (EC) <\/span><b>proposal <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for a presidential order <\/span><b>to stagger the terms of Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s (J&amp;K) four Rajya Sabha seats<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This has <\/span><b>left the Union Territory (UT) without representation <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the Upper House since 2021.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Vacancy of seats<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: J&amp;K\u2019s four Rajya Sabha seats became vacant in 2021 when MPs completed their terms during President\u2019s Rule.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Elections 2024<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Despite Assembly elections being held in Sept\u2013Oct 2024, Rajya Sabha elections are yet to be conducted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Political concern<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The current Chief Minister of the UT of J&amp;K has raised questions about the delay.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>EC\u2019s Proposal<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Proposal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: A presidential order to curtail the terms of some of the Rajya Sabha seats of J&amp;K.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Objective<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Ensure staggered retirement of J&amp;K\u2019s Rajya Sabha members, <\/span><b>preventing simultaneous vacancy.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Reference<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: A similar presidential order was issued in <\/span><b>1952 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">after the first Rajya Sabha election to create a staggered cycle.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Article 83<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Provides that one-third of Rajya Sabha members retire every two years, ensuring continuity. It is a <\/span><b>permanent <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">House as opposed to the Lok Sabha that has a fixed five-year term.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Disturbance in cycle<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: In J&amp;K (since the 1990s) and in Delhi (post-1991 NCT of Delhi Act), terms have become concurrent due to President\u2019s Rule or institutional changes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Law Ministry\u2019s Response<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Reason for rejection<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: No provision in current law to issue such an order.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Past precedents<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Orders were issued only in 1952 and 1956 under the Representation of the People Act (<\/span><b>RPA<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), 1951 and subsequent <\/span><b>Seventh Constitutional Amendment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1956).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Legal position: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <\/span><b>Section 154 of the RPA 1951<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the term of Rajya Sabha members is six years. Presidential orders for staggering were permitted only at the first constitution (1952) and after the 1956 amendment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Implication<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Any new order <\/span><b>requires a statutory amendment to the RPA, 1951<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and must cover all affected states\/UTs, not only J&amp;K.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Current Status<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>No representation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: J&amp;K has had no Rajya Sabha MPs for four years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>National impact:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">J&amp;K had no vote in the 2022 Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It will also remain unrepresented in the Vice-President election (Sept 9, 2025).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Pending action:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Uncertainty remains over when the EC will schedule Rajya Sabha elections for J&amp;K.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>A clear legislative amendment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the Representation of the People Act, 1951 can ensure staggered Rajya Sabha representation for all affected states and UTs, <\/span><b>safeguarding federal continuity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Restoring J&amp;K\u2019s voice<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Upper House will not only <\/span><b>uphold democratic legitimacy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but also <\/span><b>strengthen its integration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> into India\u2019s parliamentary framework.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/political-pulse\/decode-politics-jammu-kashmir-rajya-sabha-polls-election-commission-presidential-order-seats-10233856\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Law Ministry rejects EC proposal for a presidential order to stagger terms of J&#038;K\u2019s four Rajya Sabha seats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":62432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,2032,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-62308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-rajya-sabha","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}