A Case for Connecting RS Poll Anamoly

By Dr Bibek Debroy:

Elections to 57 seats of Rajya Sabha covering 15 states concluded recently. Usually, Rajya Sabha elections get lesser prime-time attention as compared to that of Lok Sabha or state assemblies. However, this time, instances of resort politics and deft political management leading to unexpected results made most of us note the interesting dynamics of these elections. As the name suggests, Rajya Sabha represents the voice of states and Union Territories in the Union polity. Given this, isn’t it a bit odd that elections to 4 seats of Rajasthan (about 40% of the total Rajya Sabha seats of the state) and 4 seats of Andhra Pradesh (again around 40% of the total seats) are conducted in 2022, when elections to the assemblies of these states concluded 4 years back? Shouldn’t this have ideally been done around the time these assemblies got constituted? Such misalignment makes one question whether Rajya Sabha truly reflects the voice of the state assemblies that its members are supposed to represent.

Read the full article here: https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2022/jun/19/case-for-correcting-rs-poll-anomaly-2467161.html