State legislative assemblies of India

Lower house (or only house) of an Indian state, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, or Pondicherry

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The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha,[1] also called Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in each of the states and certain union territories of India. In 22 states and 3 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.

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:

  • 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 the 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.[3]

Current State Legislative Assemblies

Legislative Assembly Seat(s) House
strength[4]
Ruling party Current term
Andhra Pradesh Amaravati 175 YSR Congress Party Fifteenth
Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar 60 Bharatiya Janata Party Tenth
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 Fourteenth
Himachal Pradesh Shimla (summer)
Dharamshala (winter)
68 Indian National Congress Fourteenth
Jammu and Kashmir Srinagar (summer)
Jammu (winter)
90 N/A
(President's rule)
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 Shiv Sena Fourteenth
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 Biju Janata Dal Sixteenth
Puducherry Puducherry 30 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 Tenth
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
Total 4123

State Legislative Assemblies by ruling parties

  NDA (BJP led alliance) (6)
  I.N.D.I.A. (INC led alliance) (6)
  Other parties (3)
Ruling party States/UTs
NDA (18)[5]
Bharatiya Janata Party 12
Shiv Sena 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
I.N.D.I.A. (9)[6]
Indian National Congress 3
Aam Aadmi Party 2
All India Trinamool Congress 1
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 1
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha 1
Others (3)
Biju Janata Dal 1
YSR Congress Party 1
Zoram People's Movement 1

The Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance is in power in 18 legislative assemblies; the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance is in power in 9 legislative assemblies; 3 legislative assemblies are ruled by other parties/alliances; and 5 union territories do not have a legislative assembly. The newly formed Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has not had elections to form a government and President's rule has been imposed there.

Former State Legislative Assemblies

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2023)
Assembly Seat Period active Abolished by
Ajmer Legislative Assembly Ajmer 1950–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Bombay Legislative Assembly Bombay 1950–1960 Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.
Coorg Legislative Assembly Mercara 1950–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Hyderabad Legislative Assembly Hyderabad 1952–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
PEPSU Legislative Assembly Patiala 1950–1956 States Reorganisation Act, 1956.

See also

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.

External links

  • Legislative Bodies in India website
  • Laws of India website to download laws made by different states
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