ent in voting. Therefore it talks about the absolute and special majority. The resolution to create or to abolish the Legislative Council needs the assent of the President as well.
Composition of the Houses
Article 170 of the Indian Constitution talks about the configuration of the Legislative Assemblies. This Article simply put emphasis on what will be the structure of the Legislative Assemblies in the state. On the other hand, the configuration of the Legislative Council is given in Article 171 of the Indian Constitution.
Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha)
According to Article 170, there should be a Legislative Assembly in every State of India. However, these assemblies should be according to the provisions of Article 333 of the Indian Constitution. The Legislative Assembly of state can have at most 500 constituencies and at least 60 constituencies. These constituencies would be represented by the members who would be selected through the process of direct election. However, the division of territorial constituencies would be determined in such a manner that it becomes dependent on the population of that constituency. Here by the term “ population” we mean population which has been published in the precedent census. The composition of the Legislative Assembly in any state can change according to the change in the population of that state. It is determined by the census of population. However, there are several exceptions to the composition of the Legislative Assembly. Let’s take the example of Mizoram, Sikkim, and Goa which has less than 60 constituencies.
The tenure or duration of the Legislative Assembly is mentioned in Article 172 of the Indian Constitution. The Legislative Assembly should work for a time period of five years. Its tenure starts from the day of its first meeting. However, it can be dissolved earlier by the special procedure established by the law. However, there can be an extension in the tenure of the Legislative Assembly. This can be done during the National Emergency. During the period of the National Emergency, the Parliament can extend the tenure of the Legislative Assembly for a period of maximum one year. Also, this extension should not be more than six months after the proclamation has ceased to operate.
Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad)
The composition of the Legislative Council is given in Article 171 of the Indian Constitution. The total members in the Legislative Council should not exceed one-third of the total members in the state Legislative Assembly. There is another criteria for the composition of the Legislative Council. The member in the Legislative Council should not be less than 40 in any case. There is an exception in the composition of Vidhan Parishad. The Legislative Council of Jammu and Kashmir has only 36 Member in Legislative Council, unlike the other Legislative Council.
The composition of the Legislative Council can be further divided in the following way:
- One-third of the members of the Legislative Council should be elected from the district boards, municipalities and other local authorities which is specified by the Parliament according to law.
- One-twelfth of its members shall be elected from the person who has been residing in the same state for the time period of at least three years and graduated from the university which is in the territory of India.
- One- twelfth of its total member should be elected from the person who is engaged in the teaching profession for at least three years in the educational institution of the state itself.
- One third should be elected by Legislative Assemblies and none of them should be a member of the Legislative Assembly.
- The remainder of the members should be nominated by the Governor according to the established law.
Qualifications of Membership
After this much of knowledge on both the Houses of Legislations, we can move further on the next topic. Here we will discuss what are the qualifications that one requires for being a member of the Legislative Assembly/Council.
The qualification of membership is given in Article 173