How Rajya Sabha elections work: MLAs vote, and the quota decides

Article 80(4) says the representatives of each state in the Council of States "shall be elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the state in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote". So the voters are MLAs, not the public. Representatives of a Union territory are chosen as Parliament decides by law.

The House has up to 238 elected representatives of the states and Union territories, and 12 members nominated by the President for special knowledge or practical experience in literature, science, art and social service. The number of seats for each state is set out in the Fourth Schedule. For a side-by-side look at the Houses, see Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Sabha.

• The Rajya Sabha is not subject to dissolution. As nearly as possible one-third of its members retire every second year (Article 83(1)).
• A member's term is six years (section 154(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951).
• The election to fill retiring seats is notified on dates recommended by the Election Commission, and the notification cannot be issued more than three months before the retiring members' terms expire.
• A vacancy that arises mid-term is filled by a by-election, and the winner serves the rest of the predecessor's term. See what a bypoll is.

When more than one seat is being filled, the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 give each valid ballot a value of 100, so that transfers of surplus votes can be worked out in whole numbers. The quota is then set by rule 76: divide the total value of valid ballots by one more than the number of seats, then add 1 and ignore any remainder.

For a single seat, such as a by-election, each ballot has a value of 1 and the quota is half the total plus 1, ignoring any remainder (rule 75).

This is a summary of the rules, taken from a copy of the Conduct of Elections Rules that may be older than the current text. The Election Commission's returning officers apply the current rules.

Since 28 August 2003, section 59 of the Representation of the People Act has provided that votes at every election to fill Council of States seats "shall be given by open ballot". The same 2003 Act removed the requirement that a candidate be an elector in the state they represent; a candidate now needs to be an elector for a parliamentary constituency anywhere in India.

In Kuldip Nayar v. Union of India (2006), a five-judge Constitution Bench upheld both changes. As summarised, it held that residence in the state is not a constitutional requirement under Article 80(4) and that secrecy of the ballot is not a fundamental right in this indirect election. The open ballot was introduced because party members were seen to be cross-voting under the cover of a secret ballot.

In Shailesh Manubhai Parmar v. Election Commission of India (21 August 2018), the Supreme Court held that NOTA cannot be used in Rajya Sabha elections and quashed the Commission's circulars that had introduced it. It reasoned that NOTA conflicts with the proportional representation system under Article 80(4), and that in an open-ballot indirect election it would indirectly encourage defection and corruption. For the option on Lok Sabha and Assembly ballots, see what NOTA is.