State Legislature

The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha,is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India.

Each state has a legislative assembly. A state legislature that has one house – State Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) – is a unicameral legislature.

A state legislature that has two houses – the State Legislative assembly and State Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) – is a bicameral legislature. The Vidhan Sabha is the lower house and corresponds to the Lok Sabha while the Vidhan Parishad is the upper house and corresponds to the Rajya Sabha of the Parliament of India.

Each Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is directly elected to serve 5-year terms by single-member constituencies. The Constitution of India states that a State Legislative Assembly must have no less than 60 and no more than 500 members however an exception may be granted via an Act of Parliament as is the case in the states of Goa, Sikkim, Mizoram and the union territory of Puducherry which have fewer than 60 members. A State Legislative Assembly may be dissolved in a state of emergency, by the Governor on request of the Chief Minister, or if a motion of no confidence is passed against the ruling majority party or coalition.

Members of Legislative Assembly

To become a member of a State Legislative Assembly voters’ list of the state for which they are contesting an election. They may not be a Member of Parliament and Member of the State Legislative Council at the same time. They should also state that there is no criminal procedures against him or her. A State Legislative Assembly holds equal legislative power with the upper house of the state legislature, the State Legislative Council, except in the area of dissolution of state government and passing of money bills, in which case the State Legislative Assembly has the ultimate authority.

Powers of legislative assemblies are given below:

A motion of no confidence against the government in the state can only be introduced in the State Legislative Assembly. If it is passed by a majority vote, then the Chief Minister and her/his Council of Ministers must collectively resign.
A money bill can only be introduced in State Legislative Assembly. In bicameral jurisdictions, after it is passed in the State Legislative Assembly, it is sent to the State Legislative Council, where it can be kept for a maximum time of 14 days.
In matters related to ordinary bills, the will of the State Legislative Assembly prevails and there is no provision of joint sitting. In such cases, State Legislative Council can delay the legislation by a maximum of 4 months (3 months in the first visit and 1 month in the second visit of the bill).
Legislative Assembly of the state has to power to create or abolish the State Legislative Council by passing a resolution to that effect by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting.
The Legislative Assembly of a state consists of not more than 500 and not fewer than 60 members (Legislative Assembly of Sikkim has 32 members, while Puducherry has 33, Goa and Mizoram have 40 seats each vide Article 371F of the Constitution) chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies in the state. Demarcation of territorial constituencies is to be done in such a manner that the ratio between population of each constituency and number of seats allotted to it, as far as practicable, is the same throughout the state. The term of an assembly is five years unless it is dissolved earlier.

The Speaker of Legislative Assembly

The Office of the Speaker of Legislative Assembly is a constitutional one. Under Article 178 of the Indian Constitution every Legislative Assembly of a State shall, choose one of its Members as Speaker. Detailed procedure regarding the Election of the Speaker is prescribed in Rule 7, 8 and 9 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

The powers and duties of the Speaker have been laid down in the rules of the Legislative Assembly and to some extent in the Constitution. The Speaker is the principal spokesman of the House. He represents its collective voice and is its sole representative to the world. Communications from the Governor to the House are made through the Speaker. Similarly communications to the Governor are made through the Speaker in the form of a formal address after a motion has been made and carried by the House.

As the representative of the House, the Speaker communicates the decisions of the House to the authorities concerned, requiring them to comply with the terms of such decisions. Similarly, he communicates to the House letters and documents addressed to him. He also issues warrants to execute the orders of the House, where necessary.

The Speaker regulates the debates and proceedings of the House. He determines the order of the Government and other Business in the House. He has the power to recognize parties and groups in the House. The Speaker decides the admissibility of Questions as per the guiding principles laid down in the Rules. The Speaker decides on the admissibility of resolutions and motions. The consent of the Speaker is necessary for the presentation of petitions to the House.

It is the Speaker who determines what matters are money’ matters as these fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Legislative Assembly. If the Speaker certifies a Bill as a Money Bill, his decision is final. Under the Constitution, the Speaker exercises only a casting vote in the case of equality of votes in any matter.

The Speaker holds the Office from the date of his election till immediately before the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly after the dissolution of the one to which he was elected, unless he ceases to be a member by any of the reasons specified in Article 179 of the Indian Constitution.

State Legislative Council

The State Legislative Council, or Vidhan Parishad, is the upper house in those states of India that have a bicameral state legislature; the lower house being the State Legislative Assembly. Its establishment is defined in Article 169 of the Constitution of India.

In India, 6 out of 28 states have a State Legislative Council. These are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.

Qualifications and tenure

To become a member of a State Legislative Council (MLC), a person must be a citizen of India, at least 30 years old, mentally sound, not an insolvent, and must be enrolled on the voter’s list of the state for which he or she is contesting an election. He or she may not be a Member of Parliament and Member of the State Legislative Assembly at the same time.
The tenure of the MLCs are six years. One-third of the members of State Legislative Council retire after every two years. This arrangement parallels that for the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.

Composition

The size of the State Legislative Council cannot be more than one third of the membership of the State Legislative Assembly. However, its size cannot be less than 40 members. These members elect the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the State Legislative Council.

MLCs are chosen in the following manner:

One third are elected by the members of local bodies such as municipalities, Gram panchayats, Panchayat samitis and district councils.
One third are elected by the members of Legislative Assembly of the State from among the persons who are not members of the State Legislative Assembly.
One sixth are nominated by the Governor from persons having knowledge or practical experience in fields such as literature, science, arts, the co-operative movement and social services.
One twelfth are elected by persons who are graduates of three years’ standing residing in that state.
One twelfth are elected by teachers who had spent at least three years in teaching in educational institutions within the state not lower than secondary schools, including colleges and universities.

Creation, Abolition & Roles of State Legislative Councils

According to the Article 169 of the Constitution of India, the Parliament of India can create or abolish the State Legislative Council of a state if that state’s legislature passes a resolution for that with a special majority.

The Constitution of India gives limited power to the State Legislative Council. The State Legislative Council can neither form nor dissolve a state government. The State Legislative Council also have no role in the passing of money bills. But some of the powers it has is that the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the State Legislative Council enjoy the same status of Cabinet Ministers in the state.

Chairman of Legislative Council

As per the Article 182 of the Indian Constitution, the Legislative Council shall have a Chairman. Members of the Council elect the Chairman of the House as per Rule 9 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council.

The Chairman presides over the sittings of the House. He regulates the debates and proceedings of the House. He is charged with the maintenance of order in the House and enforces the observance of rules by the members. He determines when a member should be called to speak and how long he be allowed to speak. He can impose time-limit on speeches, whenever necessary.

The Chairman decides the admissibility of questions, resolutions and motions. The consent of the Chairman is necessary for the presentation of petitions to the House or for calling the attention of a Minister to any matter of urgent public importance.

The Chairman constitutes various committees and nominates the members and chairmen of the committees and issues directions for the organization of work and procedure to be followed.

Powers and Functions

State legislature has exclusive powers over subjects enumerated in the State List (List II of the Seventh Schedule) of the Constitution and concurrent powers over those enumerated in sub List III. Financial powers of legislature include authorization of all expenditure, taxation and borrowing by the state government.

The Legislative Assembly alone has the power to originate money bills. The Legislative Council can only make recommendations in respect of changes it considers necessary within a period of fourteen days of the receipt of money bills from the Legislative Assembly, which can accept or reject these recommendations.

The Governor of a state may reserve any Bill for the consideration of the President. Bills relating to subjects like the compulsory acquisition of property, measures affecting powers and position of High Courts, and the imposition of taxes on storage, distribution, and sale of water or electricity in Inter-state River or river valley development projects should necessarily be so reserved. No Bills seeking to impose restrictions on inter-state trade can be introduced in a state legislature without the previous sanction of the President.

State legislatures, apart from exercising the usual power of financial control, use all normal parliamentary devices like questions, discussions, debates, adjournments, and no-confidence motions and resolutions to keep a watch over the day-to-day work of the executive. They also have their own committees on estimates and public accounts to ensure that grants sanctioned by the legislature are properly utilized.