Punjab Legislative Assembly

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Punjab Legislative Assembly

Punjab Vidhan Sabha
16th Punjab Assembly
Logo of the Punjab Legislative Assembly (Vector).svg
Type
Type
History
Established1952
Preceded by Interim East Punjab Assembly
Leadership
Kultar Singh Sandhwan , AAP
since 21 March 2022
Jai Krishan Singh , AAP
since 30 June 2022
Bhagwant Mann , AAP
since 16 March 2022
Harpal Singh Cheema , AAP
since 21 March 2022
Ravjot Singh , AAP
since 23 September 2024
Partap Singh Bajwa , INC
since 9 April 2022
Aruna Chaudhary , INC
since 3 September 2024
Structure
Seats117
India Punjab Legislative Assembly 2025.svg
Political groups
Government (92)
  •   AAP (93) [a]

Official Opposition (16)

Other Opposition (7)

Vacant (1)

  •   Vacant (1)
Length of term
5 years; renewable
Elections
First-past-the-post
First election
26 March 1952
Last election
20 February 2022
Next election
2027
Meeting place
Assembly 09.jpg
Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh, India
Website
Punjab Legislative Assembly
Constitution
Constitution of India

The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 members, directly elected from 117 single-seat constituencies. The tenure of the Legislative Assembly is five years unless dissolved sooner. The Speaker of the sixteenth assembly is Kultar Singh Sandhwan. The meeting place of the Legislative Assembly since 6 March 1961 is the Vidhan Bhavan in Chandigarh.

Contents

Vacancy

Date for by-pollConstituencyPrevious MLAVacant SinceReason
TBD21 Tarn Taran Kashmir Singh Sohal Aam Aadmi Party 27 June 2025 [6] Death

History

In the British Raj, an Executive Council was formed under The Indian Councils Act, 1861. It was only under the Government of India Act 1919 that a Legislative Council was set up in Punjab. Later, under the Government of India Act 1935, the Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted with a membership of 175. It was summoned for the first time on 1 April 1937. In 1947, Punjab Province was partitioned into West Punjab and East Punjab and the 79-member East Punjab Legislative Assembly was formed, the forerunner of the current assembly.

After the independence of India, on 15 July 1948, eight princely states of East Punjab grouped together to form a single state, Patiala and East Punjab States Union. The Punjab State Legislature was a bicameral house in April 1952, comprising the Vidhan Sabha (lower house) and Vidhan Parishad (upper house). In 1956 that state was largely merged into Punjab, the strength of the Vidhan Parishad of the new State of Punjab was enhanced from 40 seats to 46 seats and in 1957, it was increased to 51. Punjab was trifurcated in 1966 to form Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab. The Vidhan Parishad was reduced to 40 seats and the Vidhan Sabha grew by 50 seats to 104 seats. On 1 January 1970, the Vidhan Parishad was abolished leaving the state with a unicameral legislature. [7]

Legislature

The legislature comprises the governor and the Punjab Legislative Assembly, which is the highest political organ in the state. The governor has the power to summon the assembly or to close the same. All members of the legislative assembly are directly elected, normally once in every five years by the eligible voters who are above 18 years of age. The current assembly consists of 117 elected members. The elected members select one of its own members as its chairperson who is called the speaker of the assembly. The speaker is assisted by the deputy speaker who is also elected by the members. The conduct of a meeting in the house is the responsibility of the speaker.

The main function of the assembly is to pass laws and rules. Every bill passed by the house has to be finally approved by the governor before it becomes applicable.

The normal term of the legislative assembly is five years from the date appointed for its first meeting. [8]

Sixteenth Assembly

In the Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly, 92 members of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party form the treasury benches. The main opposition party in the assembly is Indian National Congress with 18 seats. The other parties which are in opposition are the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and independents. AAP MLA, Kultar Singh Sandhwan was announced as the speaker of the assembly. [9]

History

Incumbent Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took the oath of office on 16 March at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Bhagat Singh. Inderbir Singh Nijjar took the oath as Protem Speaker. On 17 March Nijjar administered the oath of office to all the 117 legislators of the Sixteenth Punjab Legislative assembly. [10] Other 10 cabinet ministers of the Mann ministry, took oath on 19 March.

On 22 June 2022, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan announced that the legislators will get answers on all issues that they raise during the Assembly debates. The answers would be provided during the Zero Hour. This was done for the first time in the history of Punjab Assembly. [11]

Leaders

TitleNamePortraitSince
Constitutional Posts
Governor Gulab Chand Kataria Gulab Chand Kataria Minister.jpg 30 July 2024


Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan [12] S. Kultar Singh Sandhwan.jpg 21 March 2022
Deputy speaker Jai Krishan Singh [13] 30 June 2022
Leader of the House
(Chief Minister)
Bhagwant Mann Bhagwant Mann.png 16 March 2022
Leader of Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa Pratap Singh Bajwa.jpg 9 April 2022
Political posts
Leader of AAP legislature party Bhagwant Mann Bhagwant Mann.png 16 March 2022
Leader of INC legislature party Pratap Singh Bajwa Pratap Singh Bajwa.jpg 9 April 2022
Leader of SAD legislature party Manpreet Singh Ayali Manpreet Singh Ayali.jpg April 2022
Leader of BJP legislature party Ashwani Kumar Sharma April 2022

Committees

List of committees and chairpersons for the term 2022–2023. [14]

Committee [15] ChairpersonParty or Organization
Committee on Local Bodies Jagroop Singh Gill Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Public Accounts Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria Indian National Congress
Committee on Estimates Aman Arora Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Public Undertakings Budh Ram Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes
Manjit Singh Bilaspur Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Privileges Kulwant Singh Pandori Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Government Assurances Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Local Bodies Jagroop Singh Gill Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Panchayati Raj Institutions Gurmeet Singh Khudian Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Subordinate Legislation Barinder Kumar Goyal Vakeel Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Papers Laid/to be Laid on the Table and Library Jagdeep Kamboj Goldy Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Petitions Mohammad Jamil Ur Rahman Aam Aadmi Party
House Committee Jai Krishan Singh
Deputy speaker (Ex-Officio Chairperson)
Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Questions & References Baljinder Kaur Aam Aadmi Party
Press Gallery CommitteeNaresh Sharma
Committee on Co-operation and its allied activities Sarvjit Kaur Manuke Aam Aadmi Party
Committee on Agriculture and its allied activities Gurpreet Singh Banawali Aam Aadmi Party

Composition

Seat Share
  1. AAP - 93 (79.4%)
  2. INC - 16 (13.7%)
  3. SAD - 2 (2.5%)
  4. BJP - 2 (1.7%)
  5. BSP - 1 (0.9%)
  6. IND - 1 (0.9%)
  7. Vacant - 1 (0.9%)

Past election results

YearsOthersTotalMajority
INC SAD AAP BJP IND
1952 9613~~9812664
1957 120^132115478
1962 90191827
1967 48^94710453
1969 3843417
1972 6624311
1977 175824011759
1980 63371214
1985 3273642
1992 8736420
1997 14751864
2002 6241392
2007 44491950
2012 46561230
2017 771520302
2022 18392211

List of Punjab Legislative Assemblies

Punjab Provincial Assembly (1937-1947)
AssemblyTenureLeader of the HousePremierParty formed governmentNote
First sittingDate of dissolution
15 April 193719 March 1945 Sikandar Hayat Khan Unionist Party Assembly tenure extended due to World War II
Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana Assembly dissolved to conduct fresh and Impartial election
221 March 19464 July 1947Malik Khizar Hayat TiwanaAssembly dissolved since government resigned against Partition
Punjab Legislative Assembly (1947–present)
AssemblyTenureLeader of the HouseChief MinisterParty formed governmentNote
First sittingDate of dissolution
Interim 1 November 194720 June 1951 Gopi Chand Bhargava Indian National Congress Interim Assembly
Bhim Sen Sachar
Gopi Chand Bhargava
1st 3 May 195231 March 1957Bhim Sen Sachar
Partap Singh Kairon
2nd 24 April 19571 March 1962Partap Singh Kairon
3rd 13 March 196228 February 1967Partap Singh KaironAssembly under suspension from 5 July 1966 to 1 November 1966
Partap Singh KaironGopi Chand Bhargava
Ram Kishan
Ram Kishan Gurmukh Singh Musafir
4th 20 March 196723 August 1968 Gurnam Singh Akali Dal - Sant Fateh Singh Assembly dissolved prematurely
Lachhman Singh Gill Punjab Janta Party
5th 13 March 196914 June 1971Gurnam Singh Shiromani Akali Dal Assembly dissolved prematurely
Parkash Singh Badal
6th 21 March 197230 April 1977 Zail Singh Indian National Congress Assembly tenure extended by one month due to Emergency
7th 30 June 197717 February 1980Parkash Singh Badal Shiromani Akali Dal Assembly dissolved prematurely
8th 23 June 198026 June 1985 Darbara Singh Indian National Congress Assembly suspended from 6 October 1983 and later dissolved due to Insurgency on 26 June 1985.
9th 14 October 19856 March 1988 Surjit Singh Barnala Shiromani Akali Dal Assembly suspended prematurely due to Insurgency on 11 June 1987 and later on dissolved on 6 March 1988.
1016 March 199211 February 1997 Beant Singh Indian National Congress -
Harcharan Singh Brar
Rajinder Kaur Bhattal
11 3 March 199726 February 2002Parkash Singh Badal Shiromani Akali Dal
1221 March 200227 February 2007 Amarinder Singh Indian National Congress
13 1 March 20076 March 2012Parkash Singh Badal Shiromani Akali Dal
14 19 March 201211 March 2017Parkash Singh Badal
15 24 March 201711 March 2022Amarinder Singh Indian National Congress
Charanjit Singh Channi
16 17 March 2022 Bhagwant Mann Aam Aadmi Party

See also

Notes

  1. One of the AAP MLA, Kuwar Vijay Partap Singh [1] is suspended by Party from his anti-party activities. Thus he is not bound by the decisions of the legislative party in assembly, however, officially he is still the member of the Aam Aadmi Party as his party affiliation is yet to be decided by the speaker.
  2. Two members were suspended by congress because of their anti-party activities. These are Sandeep Jakhar [2] and Vikramjit Chaudhary, [3] thus they are not bound by the decisions of the legislative party in assembly, however, officially they are still member of the congress as their party affiliation is yet to be decided by the speaker.
  3. One of the three SAD MLAs, Sukhwinder Sukhi joined AAP on 14 August 2024. [4] As per Anti-defection law his membership will be decided by Speaker of Punjab Assembly. [5]
  4. As comapre with previous result of 2017

References

  1. "AAP suspended Kuwar Vijay Partap Singh for alleged anti-party activities". Times of India. 29 June 2025. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Congress suspends Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar for 'anti-party' activities". Hindustan Times. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  3. "Congress suspends Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary for anti-party activities". Indian Express. 25 April 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  4. Punjab lawyer sends notice to banga mla seeks his resignation for defection from sad to aap.
  5. Punjab speaker seeks SAD MLA Sukhi's responsem on July 29.
  6. Punjab: Tarn Taran AAP MLA Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal passes away at 62 — Hindustan Times
  7. "Punjab Legislative Assembly". legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  8. "Kerala Government – Legislature". Kerala Niyamasabha. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  9. "Punjab Cabinet swearing-in Live Updates: From uprooting corruption to tackling drug addiction in Punjab — newly-inducted Ministers set targets". The Indian Express. 19 March 2022. Archived from the original on 19 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  10. "In Punjab Cabinet, Bhagwant Mann Keeps Home, Harpal Cheema Gets Finance". NDTV.com. 21 March 2022. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  11. Service, Tribune News (22 June 2022). "All Zero Hour questions to be answered: Punjab Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  12. "AAP nominates party MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan as next Punjab assembly speaker". Hindustan Times. 18 March 2022. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  13. "Jai Krishan Singh Rouri is new Deputy Speaker of Punjab assembly". The Indian Express. 30 June 2022. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  14. "Punjab speaker appoints heads of House committees". Hindustan Times. 22 May 2022. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  15. "Committees". punjabassembly.nic.in. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  16. "Punjab Results Live". results.eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  17. "Bhagwant Mann elected leader of legislative party leader". Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  18. "SAD appoints its new leader of legislative party". Archived from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  19. "Congress suspends Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary for anti-party activities". Indian Express. Retrieved 25 April 2024.