Rajya Sabha

The Rajya Sabha is the upper house of India's Parliament, whose members are chosen through indirect election rather than direct public vote.

• Its 245 members are mostly elected by MLAs in each state's legislative assembly, not directly by ordinary voters — a bit like a school council chosen by class representatives rather than by every student individually.
• Seats aren't distributed equally among states; more populous states like Uttar Pradesh get more Rajya Sabha seats than smaller ones like Arunachal Pradesh, roughly tracking population.
• Unlike the Lok Sabha, which can be dissolved and re-elected in full, the Rajya Sabha is called the "Permanent House" — it's never dissolved, with only a third of its members retiring and being replaced every two years.
• This staggered, indirect design means the Rajya Sabha tends to change composition more gradually than the Lok Sabha, giving Parliament a body that reflects state-level political shifts over a longer time horizon.