nternational importance. It is predominant in the world as most countries have a unicameral legislature. It is an effective form of the legislature as the law-making process becomes easier and reduces the possibility of obstacle in lawmaking process. Another advantage is that it is economically feasible to maintain a single chamber of the legislature. It is the most prevailing system in India as most of the States of India have a unicameral legislature. The members of the unicameral legislature (Legislative Assembly) elected directly by the citizens of the State.
By bicameral legislature, we refer to the State having two separate law-making Houses to perform the functions like passing the budget and enacting laws. India has a bicameral legislature at the Centre level while the State can make the bicameral legislature. In India, only 7 States have a bicameral legislature. It may be seen that a bicameral legislature may not be as effective as a unicameral legislature. However, it works as a barricade in some cases as it somehow makes the law-making process more complex.
Abolition or Creation of Legislative Councils
In our country, the Legislative Council (also known as Vidhan Parishad) is the Upper House of a bicameral legislature. The creation of which is given in Article 169 of the Indian Constitution and can also be abolished according to Article 169 of the Constitution.
Article 168 mentions about the Legislative Council in some of the States of our country. There is no rule of having a bicameral legislature in the State of India. It is because our Constitution framers knew that it will not be possible for every State to have a bicameral legislature ( due to financial or any other reason).
Article 169 talks about the creation or abolition of the Legislative Council. For the creation or abolition of the Legislative Council, the Legislative Assembly must pass a resolution that must be supported by more than 50% of the total strength of the assembly. It must be supported by more than 2/3rd of the total members present 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