become IAS

Can an individual simultaneously be a member of both Houses of Parliament?

What are the procedures and timelines for effecting this?

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha:

• If a person is elected simultaneously to both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, and if he has not yet taken his seat in either House, he can choose, within 10 days from the later of the dates on which he is chosen to those Houses, the House of which he would like to be a member. [Article 101(1) of the Constitution read with Section 68(1) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951]
• The member must intimate his choice in writing to the Secretary to the Election Commission of India (ECI) within the 10-day window, failing which his seat in Rajya Sabha will fall vacant at the end of this period.
• if a sitting RS/LS member contests and wins a LS/RS election, his seat in the RS/LS becomes automatically vacant on the date he is declared elected to LS/RS. . [Sec 69 read with Sec 67A, RPA 1951]

Elected on two Lok Sabha seats:

• Under Sec 33(7) of RPA, 1951, an individual can contest from two parliamentary constituencies but, if elected from both, he has to resign one seat within 14 days of the declaration of the result, failing which both his seats shall fall vacant.

State Assembly and Lok Sabha:

• Under Article 101(2) of the Constitution (read with Rule 2 of the Prohibition of Simultaneous Membership Rules, 1950, made by the President under this Article) members of state legislatures who have been elected to Lok Sabha must resign their seats within 14 days “from the date of publication in the Gazette of India or in the Official Gazette of the State, whichever is later, of the declaration that he has been so chosen”, failing which their seats in Lok Sabha shall automatically fall vacant.