69 years of Rajya Sabha: Why Bengal is key to House majority

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 3

Sixty-nine years since the Rajya Sabha was constituted on April 3, 1952, debate rages on the role of the Upper House. This discussion became more pronounced after late Arun Jaitley, then leader of the House, asked in 2015 if it was proper for the wisdom of a directly elected House to be repeatedly questioned by the indirectly elected House.

The remarks were rooted in Opposition moves to block legislations in the Rajya Sabha where it commanded a greater majority than the government.

What Pranab said about upper house

• Late President Pranab Mukherjee had said it was clear that the makers of the Constitution did not anticipate that the Upper House would become an impediment to lawmaking.
• The constitution of Rajya Sabha was such that six states with the highest population and their ruling parties determined the majority in the Upper House.

A look at Rajya Sabha history shows that until 1969, its composition was similar to the Lok Sabha’s, with the Congress enjoying the majority in both Houses. This changed after the 1969 Congress split and the 1971 General Election win of former PM Indira Gandhi-led faction, which was reduced to 90 MPs in a 245-member Rajya Sabha.

Late President Pranab Mukherjee, a five-time Rajya Sabha member himself, dwelt on this predicament of governments in his memoirs where, commenting on the 1971 era, he said, “The Upper House started asserting itself against the government and rejected many important laws and constitutional amendments despite the fact that these were supported in the Lok Sabha. The Constitution Amendment Bill of 1970 which sought to abolish privy purses failed to get two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha by a fraction of votes.”

Going by the Constituent Assembly debates, Mukherjee said it was clear that the makers of the Constitution did not anticipate that the Upper House would become an impediment to lawmaking.

The late President and Congress veteran noted in his analysis of the complexity that the constitution of Rajya Sabha was such that six states with the highest population and their ruling parties determined the majority in the Upper House. This remains the case to date.

These states and Rajya Sabha seats allotted to them (stated in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution) are—West Bengal (16), undivided Uttar Pradesh (34); undivided Bihar (22), undivided Bombay (27), undivided Madras (17) and undivided Andhra Pradesh (18).

“It is impossible to have two-thirds majority or even a simple majority unless the ruling party wins all of these six large state Assemblies or all others through a process of simultaneous elections, which are possible only through a Constitutional amendment,” Mukjerjee’s says of the Rajya Sabha.

This explains the incumbent BJP’s push for the one nation, one election plan and its feverish campaign pitch in the TMC-ruled West Bengal, currently witnessing Assembly elections. This also explains BJP’s persistent attempts to get power in Maharashtra since the ruling party is already in government in UP, Uttrakhand and Bihar, other states that determine an unassailable Rajya Sabha majority.