Every CDS and OTA paper carries a handful of polity questions, and Parliament is the most reliable scoring area. This page walks you through the composition of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the qualifications of members, their terms, and the electoral systems that fill these seats — all in plain, exam-ready language.
Why Parliament dominates the polity section
The Indian Parliament is the supreme law-making body of the country. It is defined under Article 79 of the Constitution and consists of three parts: the President, the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), and the House of the People (Lok Sabha).
Students often forget that the President is a part of Parliament even though the President does not sit in either House. This single fact appears repeatedly in CDS papers.
Parliament = President + Rajya Sabha + Lok Sabha. India follows a bicameral legislature at the Union level (two Houses).
Because polity questions are factual and unchanging year to year, mastering Parliament gives you guaranteed marks with very little revision risk. Unlike current affairs, which shift every month, the structure of Parliament is rooted in the Constitution and is settled law. Once you learn these numbers and rules well, they stay valid for every future attempt.
The word bicameral simply means “two chambers”. India chose two Houses so that the directly elected Lok Sabha could represent the will of the people, while the Rajya Sabha could safeguard the interests of the States within the federal union. This balance between popular will and federal representation is the heart of the parliamentary design, and questions often test whether you understand why two Houses exist at all.
Composition of the Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha is the directly elected lower House. Its members are chosen by the people through general elections held across territorial constituencies.
Maximum strength
The Constitution fixes the maximum strength of the Lok Sabha at 552 members:
- Up to 530 members representing the States.
- Up to 20 members representing the Union Territories.
- Earlier, up to 2 members of the Anglo-Indian community could be nominated by the President — this provision was discontinued by the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019.
The current actual strength of the Lok Sabha is 543 elected members. The 552 figure is the constitutional maximum, not the present number.
Seats are allotted to States on the basis of population so that the ratio between seats and population is as uniform as practicable across the country. This exercise is carried out by a Delimitation Commission after each census. To protect smaller and less-populous States, the allocation of seats was frozen on the basis of the 1971 census until 2026, so that States doing well on population control would not lose seats in Parliament.
Within each State, the territory is further divided into single-member constituencies, and certain seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population. Reservation of seats is a constitutional feature, not a matter of party choice, and it ensures representation for historically disadvantaged communities in the lower House.
Composition of the Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha is the upper House and represents the States and Union Territories of the Indian federation. It is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution.
Maximum strength
The maximum strength of the Rajya Sabha is 250 members:
- Up to 238 members representing the States and Union Territories, elected indirectly.
- 12 members nominated by the President from persons with special knowledge or practical experience in literature, science, art, and social service.
Current actual strength of the Rajya Sabha is 245 (233 elected + 12 nominated).
A favourite trap: members of the Rajya Sabha are not elected directly by the public. They are elected by the elected members of State Legislative Assemblies.
Qualifications to become a Member of Parliament
Article 84 lays down the qualifications a person must have to be chosen as a member of either House.
- Must be a citizen of India.
- Must make and subscribe an oath or affirmation before the person authorised by the Election Commission.
- For the Lok Sabha: must be at least 25 years of age.
- For the Rajya Sabha: must be at least 30 years of age.
- Must possess other qualifications prescribed by Parliament.
Do not confuse the ages. Lok Sabha → 25 years; Rajya Sabha → 30 years. The upper House requires the higher age — an easy memory hook.
A person must also be registered as a voter in any parliamentary constituency to contest a Lok Sabha seat, although they need not belong to the State they represent in the Rajya Sabha after a 2003 amendment removed that domicile requirement.
Disqualifications
Article 102 lists the grounds on which a sitting member or a candidate stands disqualified:
- Holding an office of profit under the Union or a State government (other than offices exempted by law).
- Being of unsound mind as declared by a competent court.
- Being an undischarged insolvent.
- Not being a citizen of India, or having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign state.
- Being disqualified under any law made by Parliament, including the anti-defection law under the Tenth Schedule.
The anti-defection provision is particularly important: a member who voluntarily gives up party membership or votes against the party whip can lose their seat. The Speaker or Chairman decides such cases, and this point surfaces often in objective questions.
Tenure and term of the two Houses
The two Houses differ sharply in how long they last, and this difference is a classic CDS question.
Lok Sabha
The normal term of the Lok Sabha is 5 years from the date of its first meeting. It can be dissolved earlier by the President. During a national emergency, Parliament can extend its life by law, one year at a time, but not beyond six months after the emergency ends.
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha is a continuing chamber and is never dissolved. One-third of its members retire every two years, so each member serves a term of 6 years.
Lok Sabha term → 5 years (can be dissolved). Rajya Sabha → permanent, member term 6 years, one-third retiring biennially.
The First-Past-the-Post electoral system
India elects its Lok Sabha members using the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) method, also called the simple majority or plurality system.
How it works
The country is divided into territorial constituencies. In each constituency, voters cast a single vote, and the candidate who secures the highest number of votes wins — they do not need more than half the votes.
Under FPTP, the winner only needs more votes than any other candidate, not an absolute majority. This is why a candidate can win with, say, 35% of the votes in a multi-cornered contest.
FPTP is simple to understand and tends to produce stable single-party governments, but it can over-represent large parties and leave many votes effectively wasted. It is used for the Lok Sabha and for State Legislative Assemblies.
The biggest advantage of FPTP is its simplicity: a voter only has to choose one candidate, and counting is quick and transparent. It usually helps a single party or coalition gain a clear majority, which makes for stable governments. The main criticism is that the share of seats a party wins may not match its share of votes, so a party with strong but scattered support can end up with very few seats. The framers of our Constitution still preferred FPTP for the popular Houses because it is easy for ordinary voters to use in a vast and diverse country.
Proportional Representation and the single transferable vote
Several important Indian elections use Proportional Representation (PR) through the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system instead of FPTP.
Where PR is used
- Election of the President and Vice-President of India.
- Election of members of the Rajya Sabha by State Assemblies.
- Election of members of the State Legislative Councils.
Memory hook: every election that fills the upper House or the top constitutional posts uses proportional representation by single transferable vote, while the directly elected Houses use FPTP.
Under STV, voters rank candidates in order of preference. A candidate needs to reach a fixed quota of votes to be elected, and surplus votes above the quota are transferred to the next preference, ensuring representation reflects the strength of different groups.
For the presidential election, India uses a special form of proportional representation in which each voter (Members of Parliament and Members of State Assemblies) casts a single vote of differing value, weighted to keep a balance between the Centre and the States. The winning candidate must obtain a fixed quota of more than fifty per cent of the total valid votes. This is why the presidential election is described as an indirect election by an electoral college using proportional representation by single transferable vote, a phrase that appears almost verbatim in exam papers.
Presiding officers of the two Houses
Each House has officers who conduct its business, and their titles are frequently tested.
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha is presided over by the Speaker, assisted by the Deputy Speaker. Both are elected by the Lok Sabha from among its own members.
Rajya Sabha
The Vice-President of India is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The House also elects a Deputy Chairman from among its members.
The Vice-President chairs the Rajya Sabha but is not a member of it. Many students wrongly assume the Chairman is an elected member of the House.
Worked example: counting Rajya Sabha membership
Let us apply the composition rules to a typical calculation-style question.
If the Rajya Sabha has 233 members elected by the States and Union Territories, how many members does the President nominate, and what is the total actual strength?
Notice the gap between the actual strength (245) and the constitutional maximum (250). The maximum allows up to 238 elected members, but only 233 seats are currently filled. The President's 12 nominations stay constant.
Common mistakes students make
These errors cost easy marks every year. Read them slowly.
- Treating 552 and 250 as actual strengths — they are maximums; actual are 543 and 245.
- Saying the Rajya Sabha can be dissolved — it never is.
- Swapping the ages: Lok Sabha is 25, Rajya Sabha is 30.
- Thinking the public directly elects the Rajya Sabha — it is indirect, by State Assemblies.
- Forgetting that the President is part of Parliament.
The Anglo-Indian nomination to the Lok Sabha was abolished by the 104th Amendment (2019). Older books may still list it — do not be misled.
Previous-year style practice
Q. Which of the following statements about the Rajya Sabha is/are correct?
1. It is a permanent House that is never dissolved.
2. One-third of its members retire every two years.
3. The President nominates 12 members from the fields of literature, science, art and social service.
(a) 1 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3. All three statements are correct — the Rajya Sabha is permanent, one-third of members retire biennially giving each a six-year term, and the President nominates 12 distinguished members.
Practise reading every option carefully; CDS often makes only one word wrong (for example, changing “6 years” to “5 years”) to test attention.
Quick revision
- Parliament = President + Rajya Sabha + Lok Sabha (Article 79).
- Lok Sabha: max 552, actual 543, term 5 years, age 25, FPTP.
- Rajya Sabha: max 250, actual 245, permanent, age 30, indirect election.
- Rajya Sabha members serve 6 years; one-third retire every 2 years.
- President nominates 12 to Rajya Sabha; Anglo-Indian seats abolished in 2019.
- FPTP for directly elected Houses; STV proportional representation for President, Vice-President and Rajya Sabha.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the maximum and actual strength of the Lok Sabha?
The constitutional maximum is 552 members, but the present actual strength is 543 elected members. The gap reflects unfilled provisions and the abolition of the Anglo-Indian nomination.
Why is the Rajya Sabha called a permanent House?
The Rajya Sabha is never dissolved as a whole. Only one-third of its members retire every two years, so the House continues to exist permanently with rotating membership.
What electoral system is used for the Lok Sabha?
The Lok Sabha uses the First-Past-the-Post system, where the candidate with the highest number of votes in a constituency wins, without needing an absolute majority.
How are Rajya Sabha members elected?
They are elected indirectly by the elected members of State Legislative Assemblies using proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
What are the minimum ages to become a Member of Parliament?
A candidate must be at least 25 years old for the Lok Sabha and at least 30 years old for the Rajya Sabha, as laid down in Article 84.
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