State

Legislature
Updated as of SEP 2020

POLITY

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State Legislature
Articles168 to 212 in Part VI of the Indian Constitution deal with the organization,
composition, duration, officers, and procedures of the state legislature.

Bicameral and Unicameral Legislature

 There is no uniformity in the organization of state legislature.
 Generally the Legislature of every State consists of the governor and the State
Legislature, in some of the States, the Legislature consists of two Houses, namely,
the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council, while in the rest, and there can
be only one House, namely the legislative assembly.
 The constitution facilitates the abolition of the second house in a state where it exists
as well as for the creation of second house in a state where there is none at present.
 If a state Legislature passes a resolution by an absolute majority, together with not
less than two-thirds of the members actually present and voting in favor of the
creation of the second chamber and if Parliament gives concurrence to such a
resolution, then the concerned State can have two Houses in the Legislature.

Two Houses of the State Legislature

Legislative Assembly
 The Legislative Assembly consist of elected members and is the real Centre of
power in a State.
 The maximum strength of an assembly is 500 or its minimum strength is 60.
 But some of the States have been allowed to have smaller Legislative Assemblies,
e.g. Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, etc.
 The strength of legislative assembly varies with the population of the state.
 The governor can nominate one member from Anglo-Indian community to the
legislative assembly.

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 For holding proper election each state is divided into territorial constituencies.
 The demarcation of these constituencies is done in such a manner that the ratio of
population and seat allocated remains same throughout the state.
 After each census a readjustment is done, this is done under the delimitation
commission Act.
 Each legislative assembly provides reservation for the people of schedule Caste and
Schedule Tribe, it is decided on the basis of education.

Legislative Council
 The members of the legislative council are indirectly elected.
 The maximum strength of the council is 1/3rd of the total strength of the legislative
assembly.

Manner of Election
 1/3rd are elected by the members of local bodies like municipality, district board etc.
 1/12 elected by graduates of three years standing or residing in the state.
 1/12 are elected by the teachers of 3 years standing in the state (not lower standard
than secondary school).
 1/3rd are elected by members of the Legislative Assembly from amongst people who
are not Assembly members.
 The rest are nominated by the Governor from persons having knowledge or practical
experience in matters like science, literature, cooperative movement, art and social
service.

Duration of Legislative assembly and Council

 Legislative assembly is not a permanent house of the state legislature. Its normal
term is five years.
 The governor is authorized to dissolve the state legislative assembly even before the
completion of five year term.
 The term of the assembly can be extended during an national emergency by the law
of the parliament for one year at a time.

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 This extension ended within the six months after the emergency ceased to operate.
 Legislative council on the other hand is a permanent body.
 1/3rd of its members retire every second year, so a member continues as such for a
period of 6 years.

Qualification of State Legislature

A person is qualified to be elected as a member of the state legislature if he/she
1. An Indian citizen.
2. Of minimum 25 years of age (for legislative assembly) and 30 yrs. of age (For
legislative council).
3. Must be a citizen of the concerned state.
4. Must be an elector for an assembly constituency in the state.
5. Must be a member of SC and ST, if he wants to contest on a seat reserved
for these categories.

Disqualification Criteria
A person is disqualified to be elected as a member of the state legislature if he/she is
1. Holding an office of profit under state government.
2. Of unsound mind
3. Insolvent.
4. Not a citizen of India, or have acquired citizenship of any other country.
5. Disqualified on the ground of defection

Speaker and Deputy Speaker

 The speaker is elected by the assembly itself amongst its members.
 A Speaker vacates his office if he becomes a member of the Assembly.
 He may also resign his office at any time.
 A speaker may be removed from office by a resolution of the Assembly passed by a
majority of all the then members of the Assembly after fourteen days’ notice of the
intention to move such a resolution.

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 Speaker does not vacate his office on the dissolution of the Assembly.
 He continues to be the Speaker until immediately before the first sitting of the
Assembly after the dissolution.
 If the office of the Speaker is vacant, the Deputy Speaker performs his duties.
 The duties and powers of the Speaker are the same as those of the Speaker of the
Lok Sabha.

Chairman and Deputy Chairman

 The Council chooses from amongst its members a Chairman and a Deputy
Chairman.
 Both vacate their offices if they cease to be members of the Council or resign from
its membership.
 They can also be removed by a resolution of the Council passed by a majority of all
the members of the Council, provided fourteen days’ notice to move such resolution
of removal has been given.
 When the resolution for removal is under discussion against the Chairman or the
Deputy Chairman, the concerned person cannot preside at the sitting of the Council,
although he may be present at such a sitting and has the right to speak in, and
otherwise to take part in the proceedings of the Council.
 He shall be entitled to vote only in the first instance on such resolution or on any
other matter during such proceedings.
 In case of an equality of votes, he does not exercise a casting vote to which he is
otherwise entitled under Article 189.
 The Chairman presides at all sittings of the Council and in his absence the Deputy
Chairman.

Sessions of State Legislature

 Summoning: The governor summons each house to meet from time to time,
the maximum time between the two sessions cannot be more than 6 months.

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 Adjournment: Suspension of the work in a sitting for a specifi ed time period.

The power of adjourning the sitting lies in the presiding officer of the house.
 Prorogation: It terminates a session of the house. The presiding offi cer has
the power of prorogation.
 Dissolution: Only the legislative assembly is subject to the dissolution,
Legislative council is a permanent house.
 Quorum: It is the minimum number of members required to be present in the
House. It is one-tenth of the total members of the house.

Passing of Bills in State Legislature

Ordinary Bill
 Can be introduced in either house of the legislature, the pass goes through three
readings in the first house.
 After passing from the first house, the bill is send to the second house. The bill is
considered to be passed only if both the houses pass it.
 Every bill is presented to the governor, after the passing from the both houses. The
governor can
1. Give his assent
2. Withhold the assent
3. Return the bill for reconsideration
4. Reserve the bill for the consideration of the president.

Note: If the governor reserves the bill for the consideration of the President then
after this the Governor has no role to play in the passing of that bill.

Money Bill
 A money bill cannot be introduced in the legislative council.
 It can be introduced only in the legislative assembly and that is on the
recommendation of the governor.
 This kind of bill cannot be introduced by a private member, only a minister can
introduce such bill.

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Comparison of Legislative Procedure of

Parliament and the State Legislature
Parliament State legislature
Ordinary Bill Ordinary Bill
1. Can be introduced in either house
1. Can be introduced in either house
2. Can be introduced by a minister or a
2. Can be introduced by a minister or a
private member
private member
3. Goes through first, second and third
3. Goes through first, second and third
reading
reading
4. Passed only if both the hoses pass it
4. Passed only if both the hoses pass it
individually
individually
5. Deadlock takes place if the bill is not
5. Deadlock takes place if the bill is not
passed by the second house.
passed by the second house.
6. Joint sitting in case of deadlock
6. No provision of Joint sitting
7. Lok Sabha can’t override Rajya Sabha by
7. Legislative assembly can override the
passing the bill for the second time and
legislative council by passing the bill for
vice-versa.
the second time.
8. If the president do not summon joint
8. The mechanism of passing the bill for
sitting, the bill collapses and becomes
second time applies only on the bills
dead.
origination from the legislative assembly.

Money Bill Money Bill

1. Introduced in Legislative assembly only

1. Introduced in Lok Sabha only. 2. Introduced on the recommendation of the
2. Introduced on the recommendation of the Governor.
President. 3. Introduced only by a minister and not by a
3. Introduced only by a minister and not by private member.
a private member. 4. Legislative council cannot amend it reject
4. Rajya Sabha cannot amend it reject it, it, Legislative Council can only make
Rajya Sabha can only make recommendations.
recommendations 5. The recommendation made by the
5. The recommendation made by the Rajya Legislative Council is not binding on the
Sabha is not binding on the Lok Sabha. Legislative Assembly.
6. If the Lok Sabha accepts 6. If the Legislative Assembly accepts
recommendation, then the bill is passed. recommendation, then the bill is deemed
to have been passed.

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7. If the Lok Sabha passed the bill again, 7. If the Legislative Assembly passed the bill
without accepting the recommendation, again, without accepting the
then the Rajya Sabha has to accept the recommendation, then the Legislative
bill. Council has to accept the bill.
8. If the Rajya Sabha do not return the bill to 8. If the Legislative Council do not return the
the Lok Sabha for a period of 14 years, bill to the Legislative Assembly for a
the bill is deemed to have been passed. period of 14 years, the bill is deemed to
have been passed.

Articles Related to State Legislature

Articles Subject
Art 168 Constitution of Legislature in states
Art 169 Abolition and Creation of legislative councils in the states
Art 170 Composition of Legislative assemblies
Art 178 The speaker and deputy speaker of the legislative assembly
Art 191 Disqualification of members
Art 213 Power of governor to promulgate Ordinances during the recess of legislature

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