 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 of the Indian Constitution. For the membership or for filling a seat in the legislature of the State, a person must be a citizen of India. A person will not be granted membership if he/ she is not a citizen of that country. Also, the qualification of the membership is somewhat similar to the qualification to the membership of the center legislature. The member of the Legislative Assembly should be more than 25 years. For being a member of the Legislative Council one should be more than 30 years. Also, a necessary condition for being a member of legislatures includes that he/she must be a voter from any of the constituencies of the state.
Disqualifications of Membership
After being elected/ nominated as a member of the legislature, one can not be a permanent member of the legislature. There are certain reasons mentioned in the Constitution by which a person may be disqualified from his/her membership to the Legislature. Article 191 talks about the disqualification of the members of the Legislature.
Disqualification of MLA/ MLC can be made on the following grounds:
- If one holds the office of profit under the state or central government.
- If one is of unsound mind and is declared so by the competent court.
- If one is an undischarged insolvent.
- If one is not a citizen of the country anymore or when he/ she voluntarily took the citizenship of another country.
- If one is disqualified by the law of the Parliament. Example- Anti defection law.
Decisions on disqualifications
Article 192 of the Indian Constitution talks about the decision on the disqualification of a member of the state legislature. If any question arises about the disqualification of a member of the House of the legislature on any ground mentioned in Article 191 in the Indian Constitution, then Article 192 comes into play. Article 192 mentions that in such cases the decision about disqualification would be determined by the Governor of that state and his/ her decision would be final. However, the Governor needs to consult the Election Commission f