CDS (II) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 55 of 120

Correct — B, Bihar. Rajya Sabha seats are allotted State by State in the Fourth Schedule, broadly according to population, and among the four names offered Bihar has the most with 16. Karnataka comes next with 12, Andhra Pradesh has 11 and Rajasthan 10. Two reorganisations lie behind those numbers and are worth carrying: Bihar had 22 seats until Jharkhand was carved out of it in 2000, and Andhra Pradesh had 18 until Telangana was separated in 2014, taking 7 of them. Note the limit of the claim — Bihar is the largest of these four, not of the country. Uttar Pradesh has 31, followed by Maharashtra with 19 and Tamil Nadu with 18, so Bihar is fourth nationally, level with West Bengal.

• (a)Andhra Pradesh — Andhra Pradesh has 11 seats. It is the option that catches anyone working from a pre-2014 memory, when the undivided State had 18 and would indeed have led this list.
• (c)Rajasthan — Rajasthan has 10, the fewest of the four. Rajasthan is the largest Indian State by area, which is exactly the association the option is trading on — Rajya Sabha seats follow population, not territory.
• (d)Karnataka — Karnataka has 12, second in this list. It is close enough to Bihar's 16 to be tempting without ever overtaking it.

The Council of States has a sanctioned maximum of 250 under Article 80 — not more than 238 representatives of States and Union Territories plus 12 nominated by the President — and an actual strength of 245, of whom 233 are elected. The allocation of those seats among the States is set out in the Fourth Schedule, and it is population-based, which distinguishes the Indian upper house sharply from the American Senate with its two seats per State.

The reliable way to answer seat-count questions is to memorise the top of the Fourth Schedule table rather than the whole of it — Uttar Pradesh 31, Maharashtra 19, Tamil Nadu 18, Bihar 16, West Bengal 16, Karnataka 12, and then a cluster of 11s in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, with Rajasthan on 10. Because allocation follows population but the Schedule is amended only when States are reorganised, the fit with current population is loose: Bihar's population now far exceeds Tamil Nadu's, yet Tamil Nadu has more seats. Members are elected by the elected members of the State Assembly by proportional representation with a single transferable vote; a third retire every two years and the House is never dissolved.

• Fourth Schedule seats among the options: Bihar 16, Karnataka 12, Andhra Pradesh 11, Rajasthan 10.
• Uttar Pradesh has the most seats at 31, followed by Maharashtra 19 and Tamil Nadu 18.
• Article 80 sanctions a maximum of 250 — up to 238 from States and Union Territories plus 12 nominated; the actual strength is 245, of whom 233 are elected.
• Bihar fell from 22 seats to 16 when Jharkhand was created in 2000; Andhra Pradesh fell from 18 to 11 when Telangana was created in 2014.
• Members are elected by the elected MLAs of the State through proportional representation by single transferable vote, one third retiring every two years.

• Working from pre-bifurcation seat counts for Bihar or Andhra Pradesh.
• Assuming seats follow area rather than population, which is what the Rajasthan option invites.
• Confusing the sanctioned maximum of 250 with the actual strength of 245.

As a which-State-has-most item, or as a Schedule-identification question on where the allocation is written down.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The allocation of seats in the Council of States to the States and Union Territories is contained in which Schedule of the Constitution of India?

  • (a)Second Schedule
  • (b)Third Schedule
  • (c)Fourth Schedule
  • (d)Seventh Schedule

  Answer(c) Fourth Schedule — the Second deals with emoluments, the Third with forms of oath and the Seventh with the three legislative lists.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which State has the largest number of seats in the Rajya Sabha?

  • (a)Maharashtra
  • (b)Bihar
  • (c)Uttar Pradesh
  • (d)West Bengal

  Answer(c) Uttar Pradesh — 31 seats, ahead of Maharashtra with 19, Tamil Nadu with 18, and Bihar and West Bengal with 16 each.