State legislative assemblies of India

Last updated

The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhana Sabha, or Saasana Sabha, [1] is a legislative body in each of the states and certain union territories of India. In 28 states and 8 union territories, there is a unicameral legislature which is the sole legislative body. In 6 states, the legislative assembly is the lower house of their bicameral legislature with the upper house being the State Legislative Council. 5 union territories are governed directly by the Union Government of India and have no legislative body.

Contents

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. [2]

Member of Legislative Assembly

To become a member of a State Legislative Assembly, they must have their name in the 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 down below:

Current State Legislative Assemblies

Legislative AssemblySeat(s)House
size [4]
Ruling partyCurrent term
Andhra Pradesh Amaravati 175 Telugu Desam Party Sixteenth
Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar 60 Bharatiya Janata Party Eleventh
Assam Dispur 126 Bharatiya Janata Party Fifteenth
Bihar Patna 243 Janata Dal (United) Seventeenth
Chhattisgarh Raipur 90 Bharatiya Janata Party Sixth
Delhi New Delhi 70 Aam Aadmi Party Seventh
Goa Panaji 40 Bharatiya Janata Party Eighth
Gujarat Gandhinagar 182 Bharatiya Janata Party Fifteenth
Haryana Chandigarh 90 Bharatiya Janata Party Fifteenth
Himachal Pradesh Shimla (summer)
Dharamshala (winter)
68 Indian National Congress Fourteenth
Jammu and Kashmir Srinagar (summer)
Jammu (winter)
90+5 (Nominated) Jammu & Kashmir National Conference Thirteenth
Jharkhand Ranchi 81 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Fifth
Karnataka Bangalore (summer)
Belgaum (winter)
224 Indian National Congress Sixteenth
Kerala Thiruvananthapuram 140 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Fifteenth
Madhya Pradesh Bhopal 230 Bharatiya Janata Party Sixteenth
Maharashtra Mumbai (summer)
Nagpur (winter)
288 Bharatiya Janata Party Fifteenth
Manipur Imphal 60 Bharatiya Janata Party Twelfth
Meghalaya Shillong 60 National People's Party Eleventh
Mizoram Aizawl 40 Zoram People's Movement Ninth
Nagaland Kohima 60 Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party Fourteenth
Odisha Bhubaneshwar 147 Bharatiya Janata Party Seventeenth
Puducherry Puducherry 30+3 (Nominated) All India N.R. Congress Fifteenth
Punjab Chandigarh 117 Aam Aadmi Party Sixteenth
Rajasthan Jaipur 200 Bharatiya Janata Party Sixteenth
Sikkim Gangtok 32 Sikkim Krantikari Morcha Eleventh
Tamil Nadu Chennai 234 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Sixteenth
Telangana Hyderabad 119 Indian National Congress Third
Tripura Agartala 60 Bharatiya Janata Party Thirteenth
Uttar Pradesh Lucknow 403 Bharatiya Janata Party Eighteenth
Uttarakhand Bhararisain (summer)
Dehradun (winter)
70 Bharatiya Janata Party Fifth
West Bengal Kolkata 294 All India Trinamool Congress Seventeenth
Total4123 (excluding 8 nominated seats)

    State Legislative Assemblies by ruling parties

    State- and union territory-level parties.svg
       Bharatiya Janata Party (14)
       NDA (6)
       Indian National Congress (3)
       INDIA (7)
      Others (1)
       No legislature (5)
    Ruling partyStates/UTs
    NDA (20) [5]
    Bharatiya Janata Party 14
    Telugu Desam Party 1
    Janata Dal (United) 1
    All India N.R. Congress 1
    Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party 1
    National People's Party 1
    Sikkim Krantikari Morcha 1
    INDIA (10) [6]
    Indian National Congress 3
    Aam Aadmi Party 2
    All India Trinamool Congress 1
    Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1
    Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 1
    Jammu & Kashmir National Conference 1
    Jharkhand Mukti Morcha 1
    Others(1)
    Zoram People's Movement 1

    The Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance is in power in 20 legislative assemblies; the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance is in power in 10 legislative assemblies; 1 legislative assemblies are ruled by other parties/alliances; and 5 union territories do not have a legislative assembly.

    Former State Legislative Assemblies

    AssemblySeatPeriod activeAbolished by
    Ajmer Legislative Assembly Ajmer 1950–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
    Bhopal Legislative Assembly Bhopal 1949–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
    Bombay Legislative Assembly Bombay 1950–1960Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.
    Coorg Legislative Assembly Mercara 1950–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
    Hyderabad Legislative Assembly Hyderabad 1948–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
    Madhya Bharat Legislative Assembly Gwalior 1948–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
    Madras Legislative Assembly Madras 1947–1969Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968.
    Mysore Legislative Assembly Mysore 1947–1973Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Act of 1973.
    PEPSU Legislative Assembly Patiala 1948–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
    Saurashtra Legislative Assembly Rajkot 1948–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
    Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly Trivandrum 1949–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
    Vindhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly Rewa 1948–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.

    See also

    Related Research Articles

    Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary secular democratic republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the Prime Minister of India is the head of government. It is based on the federal structure of government, although the word is not used in the Constitution itself. India follows the dual polity system, i.e. federal in nature, that consists of the central authority at the centre and states at the periphery. The Constitution defines the organizational powers and limitations of both central and state governments; it is well recognised, fluid and considered supreme, i.e. the laws of the nation must conform to it. India is officially declared a secular and socialist state as per the Constitution.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Bharatiya Janata Party</span> Indian political party

    The Bharatiya Janata Party is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is aligned with right-wing politics and has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right paramilitary organisation. Its policies adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. As of January 2024, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the Parliament of India as well as state legislatures.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">National Democratic Alliance</span> Indian big tent political coalition lead by BJP

    The National Democratic Alliance is an Indian big tent multi-party political alliance, led by country's biggest political party the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded on 15 May 1998 and currently controls the government of India as well as the government of 19 Indian states and one Union territory.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Lok Janshakti Party</span> Defunct political party in India

    The Lok Janshakti Party was a state political party mainly based in the state of Bihar, India. The party was formed in 2000 when Ram Vilas Paswan split from Janata Dal. The party had a considerable following amongst Dalits in Bihar. The party is factioned into two parties Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Naga People's Front</span> Political party in India

    The Naga People's Front (NPF) is a regional political party in Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. It headed the Nagaland government with the Bharatiya Janata Party, as part of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland from 2003 to 2018. NPF is coalition partner of N. Biren Singh ministry led BJP government in Manipur. The party ideology includes Conservative Christianity, thus encouraging it. It demands and supports greater autonomy for Naga areas and Naga cultural Nationalism.


    India has a parliamentary system as defined by its constitution, with power distributed between the union government and the states. India's democracy is the largest democracy in the world.

    A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district (constituency) to the legislature of State government in the Indian system of government. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Each state has between seven and nine MLAs for every Member of Parliament (MP) that it has in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's bicameral parliament. There are also members in three unicameral legislatures in Union Territories: the Delhi Legislative Assembly, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and the Puducherry Legislative Assembly. Only a Member of the Legislative Assembly can work as a minister for more than 6 months. If a non-Member of the Legislative Assembly becomes a Chief Minister or a minister, he must become an MLA within 6 months to continue in the job. Only a Member of the Legislative Assembly can become the Speaker of the Legislature.

    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.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Kerala</span> Political system of Kerala

    Kerala is an Indian state, where federal legislative power is vested in the unicameral Kerala Legislative Assembly. The multilateral system has, since 1956, been dominated by the several pre-poll and post-poll alliances.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Bihar</span> Indian State Government

    Bihar Government is the state government of the Indian state of Bihar and its nine divisions which consist of districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Bihar, a judiciary and legislative branches.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Gujarat</span> Indian State Government

    The Government of Gujarat, also known as GujaratGovernment, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciary and of a publicly elected legislative body.

    State Governments of India are the governments ruling over the 28 states and 3 union territories of India with the head of Council of Ministers in every state being the Chief Minister. Power is divided between the Union government and the state governments.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Odisha Legislative Assembly election</span> 2009 assembly elections in Odisha

    The 2009 Odisha Legislative Assembly election took place in April 2009, concurrently with the general election. The elections were held in the state in two phases. The results were declared on 16 May. Despite having recently separated from the Bharatiya Janata Party after an eleven-year partnership, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) retained power in the Odisha State Assembly with a more convincing majority. Party chief Naveen Patnaik was formally re-elected as the BJD Legislature party leader on 19 May, thus paving the way for his third consecutive term as the Chief Minister of Odisha.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Bihar</span> Overview of the procedure of elections in the Indian state of Bihar

    Elections in the state of Bihar, India are conducted in accordance with the Constitution of India. The Assembly of Bihar creates laws regarding the conduct of local body elections unilaterally while any changes by the state legislature to the conduct of state level elections need to be approved by the Parliament of India.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Uttarakhand</span> Overview of the procedure of elections in the Indian state of Uttarakhand

    Elections for the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly in Uttarakhand state, India are conducted in accordance with the Constitution of India. The legislative assembly of Uttarakhand creates laws regarding the conduct of local body elections unilaterally while any changes by the state legislature to the conduct of state level elections need to be approved by the Parliament of India. In addition, the state legislature may be dismissed by the Parliament according to Article 356 of the Indian Constitution and President's rule may be imposed.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindustani Awam Morcha</span> Indian political party

    Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (English: Indian People's Front), abbreviated HAM(S), is an Indian political party with a presence in Bihar. In Bihar, this party is also a natural Allies of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) similar to Janata Dal (United). It received a new election symbol, the wok, for the Bihar Assembly election in 2020.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Indian presidential election</span>

    The 2017 presidential election was held in India on 17 July 2017 with the votes counted and the results announced on 20 July 2017. President Pranab Mukherjee, whose term of office was due to expire on 24 July 2017, declined to seek re-election due to health concerns and old age.

    The North-East Democratic Alliance is a political coalition that was formed on May 24, 2016, by Bharatiya Janata Party. The motive of the new political front was to unite non-Congress parties in Northeast India. Himanta Biswa Sarma was appointed as the convenor of the front.

    Elections in the Republic of India in 2018 included by-elections to the Lok Sabha, elections to the Rajya Sabha, elections to of eight states and numerous other by-elections to state legislative assemblies, councils and local bodies.

    References

    1. "Vidhan_Sabha". Collins English Dictionary . HarperCollins Publishers. 2014.
    2. "State Legislative Assemblies" (PDF). www.india.gov.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
    3. "Explainer: Why Jagan Reddy wants to abolish the legislative council in Andhra Pradesh". The Week .
    4. "Terms of the Houses". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
    5. "Explained: The 38 parties in the NDA fold". The Indian Express. 19 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
    6. Ghosh, Sanchari (19 July 2023). "INDIA from UPA: Opposition's push for a new name explained". mint. Retrieved 25 July 2023.