Rajya Sabha polls: Process of voting & how it is different from Lok Sabha elections

In Lok Sabha elections, members are elected directly by the people, whereas, in Rajya Sabha polls, members are elected by the members of legislative assemblies of every state indirectly. (Image credit: ANI)

Lok Sabha elections are conducted every 5 years and Rajya Sabha elections are conducted every two years for 33% of the seats. (Image credit: PTI)

The tenure of Rajya Sabha members is six years, whereas, that of Lok Sabha members is five years. (Image credit: ANI)

The Rajya Sabha currently comprises 245 members. Out of this, 233 are elected and 12 nominated by the President. (Image credit: ANI)

The process of Rajya Sabha elections happen through special transferable vote (STV). Under this system, the population of each MLA's constituency determines their voting power. For example, Uttar Pradesh has a quota of 31 Rajya Sabha seats while Himachal Pradesh has 3. (Image credit: ANI)

Every MLA is required to rank their preference against each candidate from 1st to last. If a candidate gets enough first preference votes to meet the quota allotted to them, they are elected.

If there are surplus first preference votes for a candidate that exceeds the quota, those votes are transferred to the 2nd preferred candidate. (Image credit: PTI)

Quotas are a specific number of votes allocated to each candidate that they need to secure to win the seat. (Image credit: PTI)

Cross voting is when an MLA votes for a candidate not belonging to the same party as the MLA. (Image credit: PTI)

No, the anti-defection law does not apply to Rajya Sabha polls as the MLAs can vote as per their conscience, even against their own party members. (Image credit: ANI)