Do nominated members of Rajya Sabha have voting rights

New Delhi, Mar 17: Former chief justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. The issue has been heavily debated since and both Congress and the BJP have traded charges at each other. Justice Gogoi's name was proposed after the term of K T S Tulsi came to an end in February.

Under Article 80 of the Indian Constitution, the the Rajya Sabha would comprise of not more than 250 members of whom 12 are nominated by the President of India. The persons nominated are those with special special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as literature, science, art and social service.

A nominated member enjoys all the powers and privileges and immunities available to an elected member of Parliament. They take part in the proceedings of the House as any other member. Nominated members are however not entitled to vote in an election of the President of India. They however have rights to vote in the vice presidential election.
As per Article 99 of the Constitution, a nominated member is allowed six months time should he join a political party.

The first 12 to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha:

• Dr. Zakir Husain
• Alladi Krishnaswami
• Prof. Satyendranath Bose
• Shrimati Rukmini Devi Arundale
• Prof. N R Malkani
• Dr. Kalidas Nag
• Dr. J M Kumarappa
• Kakasaheb Kalelkar
• Maithilisharan Gupta
• Dr. Radha Kumud Mookerji
• Major - General Sahib Singh Sokhey
• Prithviraj Kapoor

The current lot:

• Swapan Dasgupta
• Dr. Narendra Jadhav
• Dr. Subramanian Swamy
• Suresh Gopi
• Mary Kom
• Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati
• Roopa Ganguly
• Ram Shakal
• Rakesh Sinha
• Dr. Sonal Mansingh
• Raghunath Mohapatra