Higher in Upper House

Context: Probity in Rajya Sabha polls is needed to address the role of money and muscle power in the elections.

Manner of election to the Rajya:

• Only the elected MLAs of a state assembly can vote in elections.
• Single transferable vote: Voters rank all candidates according to their preference. Voting only takes place when there are more candidates than the vacant seats. 

• This method would lead to the election of candidates as opposed to the majority party.
• Members of other political parties get representation to raise their voices.

Concerns associated with Rajya Sabha elections:

• Party dynamics: Outcome depends on the dynamics within a party and external pressure exerted by competing parties.
• Money and muscle power: Playing more significant role due to the participation of wealthy individuals.

• Example: In 2016, Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka, an MLA  was demanding money for voting.

• Cross voting: MLAs are regularly convinced to vote against their party’s candidate.

• Rajya Sabha committee mooted the idea of open ballots to prevent the use of money and muscle power, later Parliament passed the law in 2003 to that effect.

• No penalty for cross-voting: The Supreme Court(2006) decided that cross-voting would not attract the penalty under the anti-defection law. 
• Invalid votes: Open ballot provides legal and technical grounds for invalidating votes.

• For example:

• In Gujarat(2017) two Congress MLAs had shown their votes to the BJP’s election agent. So their votes were held invalid. 
• In Haryana's (2016) use of unofficial violet pen for voting made the votes of 12 MLAs invalid.

Conclusion: It’s easy to comply with the letter of the law rather than its spirit. A lasting solution to probity in the Rajya Sabha elections can only come from within political parties.