What would happen if the Rajya Sabha followed the American system of equal representation for all States?

All States would have the same number of representatives regardless of population

The correct answer is Option 3- All States would have the same number of representatives regardless of population

If the Rajya Sabha followed the American system of equal representation, all States would have the same number of representatives regardless of their population, leading to a discrepancy where small States would have the same representation as larger States.

Each of the two Houses of Parliament has different bases of representation. The Rajya Sabha represents the States of India. It is an indirectly elected body. Residents of the State elect members to State Legislative Assembly. The elected members of State Legislative Assembly in turn elect the members of the Rajya Sabha. We can imagine two different principles of representation in the second chamber. One way is to give equal representation to all the parts of the country irrespective of their size or population. We may call this as symmetrical representation. On the other hand, parts of the country may be given representation according to their population. This second method means that regions or parts having larger population would have more representatives in the second chamber than regions having less population.

In the USA, every state has equal representation in the Senate. This ensures equality of all the states. But this also means that a small state would have the same representation as the larger states. The system of representation adopted for the Rajya Sabha is different from that in the USA. The number of members to be elected from each State has been fixed by the fourth schedule of the Constitution. What would happen if we were to follow the American system of equality of representation in the Rajya Sabha? Uttar Pradesh with a population of 1998.12 lakhs would get seats equal to that of Sikkim whose population is only 6.10 lakhs.

The framers of the Constitution wanted to prevent such discrepancy. States with larger population get more representatives than States with smaller population get. Thus, a more populous State like Uttar Pradesh sends 31 members to the Rajya Sabha, while a smaller and less populous State like Sikkim has one seat in the Rajya Sabha.