A K WALIA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short question arising in writ petition is whether there should be one or different elections for filling up thrce seats of Rajya Sabha from the Electoral College comprising of members of the Legislative Assembly of Delhi. Only three seats of Rajya Sabha have been allocated to Delhi.

(2.) The petitioner is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Delhi elected on Congress(l) ticket. The Legislative Assembly of Delhi has now 49 member belonging to Bhartiya Janta Party, 14 to Congress(l), four to Janta Dal and three independents. Keeping in view the present strength of different parties in the Assembly if one election is held in respect of three seats the possibility of result being different from the result which may be available if three different elections are held for the three seats cannot be ruled out.

(3.) Article 80(2) of the Constitution of India lays down that the allocation of seats in the Council of States to be filled by representatives of the States and all the Union Territories shall be in accordance with the provisions in that behalf contained in the fourth schedule. Earlier there used to be one seat allocated to Delhi but on account of Seventh Amendment to the Constitution in 1956,three seats have been allo-cated to Delhi. Clause 4 of Article 80 makes it clear that the election to the Council of States shall be in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. Article 83 of the Constitution contemplates a permanent Council of States (Rajya Sabha) as it is not to be di ssolved and as nearly as possible one-third of its members are to retire as soon as may be on the expiration of every second year in accordance with the provisions made in that behalf by Parliament by law. Section 27A (3) of the Representation of the People Act makes the Legislative Assembly of Delhi as the Electoral College for electing the members to the Council of States. Section 27H lays down that the seat or seats in the Council of States allotted to any Union Territory in the fourth schedule of the Constitution shall be filled by a person or persons elected by the members of the Electoral College for that Territory in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.