Rajya Sabha Presiding Officers: Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Panel

Master the Rajya Sabha presiding system: Vice-President as ex-officio Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Panel of Vice-Chairmen, voting, removal and vacancy rules.

This note is confined to the Council of States. For the lower House’s Money Bill certification, joint-sitting role and continuity after dissolution, read the Lok Sabha Speaker note. The separate Deputy Speaker note owns the Article 93 vacancy debate.

The constitutional architecture

The Constitution uses the official terms Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Council of States. “Chairperson” is a common gender-neutral description, but UPSC answers should recognise the constitutional nomenclature.

Chairman: why the Vice-President holds the office

The Vice-President’s two roles must be kept conceptually separate. Articles 64 and 89 make the Vice-President Chairman of Rajya Sabha by virtue of office. Article 66, by contrast, governs election as Vice-President: an electoral college consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament elects the Vice-President by proportional representation through the single transferable vote and secret ballot. Elected and nominated MPs participate; state legislatures do not.

The Vice-President must be a citizen of India, at least 35 years old and qualified for election as a Rajya Sabha member, and must not hold the disqualifying office of profit described in Article 66. The five-year tenure, resignation and removal rules belong to the office of Vice-President under Article 67; the Rajya Sabha chairmanship ends with that office.

Removal of the Vice-President acting as Chairman

Article 67(b) creates a distinctive process:

“Majority of all the then members” is commonly called an effective majority: vacancies are excluded from the current membership figure, but abstentions do not reduce the majority required.

Under Article 92(2), the Chairman may speak and otherwise participate while the removal resolution is considered but cannot vote at all. This is not merely the ordinary casting-vote rule; it is an express removal-stage limitation.

Powers of the Chairman inside Rajya Sabha

The Chairman’s authority comes from the Constitution, the Rules of Procedure, parliamentary directions, rulings, practices and conventions. It should not be presented as an undefined personal discretion.

Regulating debate and business

The Chair decides admissibility under the applicable rules, calls members, puts questions to vote, decides points of order and regulates debate. Rule 258 makes the Chairman’s decision on a point of order final within the House. Article 120 also allows the presiding officer to permit a member unable to express themselves adequately in Hindi or English to address the House in their mother tongue.

Maintaining order

The Rajya Sabha Rules create graduated responses:

• Rule 255 permits the Chairman to direct a grossly disorderly member to withdraw for the remainder of that day’s meeting.
• Rule 256 permits the Chairman to name a persistently obstructive member, after which the House decides a suspension motion for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session.
• Rule 257 permits adjournment of the Council or suspension of a sitting when grave disorder arises.
• Rules 258 and 259 support decisions on points of order and enforcement of the Chair’s decisions.

The distinction between direction by the Chair and decision by the House matters. Under Rule 256, the Chairman names the member; Rajya Sabha votes on the suspension motion.

Casting vote

Article 100 says the Chairman or person acting as Chairman does not vote in the first instance but has and exercises a casting vote when votes are equal. For the Vice-President as Chairman, this preserves distance from ordinary party voting. When a member such as the Deputy Chairman presides, that member similarly refrains from the initial vote and uses only the casting vote while in the Chair.

Tenth Schedule adjudication

Paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule assigns the Chairman the decision on whether a Rajya Sabha member has incurred disqualification on the ground of defection. This is an adjudicatory function distinct from ordinary floor management. Kihoto Hollohan established that the presiding officer acts as a tribunal for this purpose and that the finality clause does not eliminate judicial review on recognised grounds.

Institutional and representative role

The Chairman represents the collective dignity of the House, protects member participation within the rules, oversees the Rajya Sabha Secretariat’s institutional functioning and exercises the committee-related powers assigned by the rules. Neutrality is therefore not cosmetic: it is necessary for fair allocation of speaking opportunities, enforcement of procedure and confidence in adjudicatory decisions.

Deputy Chairman: an elected member with an independent office

Article 89(2) requires Rajya Sabha to choose one of its members as Deputy Chairman as soon as the office becomes vacant. The election procedure is supplied by Rule 7. The Deputy Chairman does not hold office at the Chairman’s pleasure and is not constitutionally subordinate to the Chairman; accountability is to the House.

Under Article 90, the Deputy Chairman vacates office by:

1. ceasing to be a Rajya Sabha member;
2. resigning in writing to the Chairman; or
3. removal by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members of Rajya Sabha, after at least fourteen days’ notice.

When presiding, Rule 9 gives the Deputy Chairman or another competent member the same powers the Rules confer on the Chairman for that sitting. When the Deputy Chairman’s own removal resolution is under consideration, Article 92(1) prevents them from presiding. As a member, however, the Deputy Chairman can participate and vote in the first instance; there is no casting vote because they are not occupying the Chair for that proceeding.

Vacancy, temporary absence and the Panel

These situations are frequently confused in Prelims questions.

Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker compared

UPSC recall sheet

1. Vice-President = ex-officio Chairman under Articles 64 and 89(1); Rajya Sabha does not elect the Chairman.
2. Rajya Sabha elects the Deputy Chairman from among its members under Article 89(2).
3. Chairman ordinarily has only a casting vote under Article 100.
4. Vice-President removal starts in Rajya Sabha, requires a majority of all the then members and Lok Sabha agreement, with fourteen days’ notice.
5. Deputy Chairman removal is by Rajya Sabha alone through the Article 90 effective-majority route.
6. During the Vice-President’s removal debate, the Chairman may participate but cannot vote at all.
7. Rule 8 panel: not more than six Vice-Chairmen; it addresses absence, not a double vacancy in office.
8. Tenth Schedule decisions are adjudicatory and subject to judicial review.