 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 for the same and he/she needs to act accordingly. Here, grounds of disqualification would be the same as mentioned in Article 191.
Sessions of the State Legislature
Moving further on the next topic we will discuss the sessions of these State Legislatures. Its time of prorogation and dissolution will also be discussed by us here. Also, one thing is quite clear after a lot of analysis of State Legislature is that the Legislative Assembly is somehow similar to the House of the People (Lok Sabha) while the Legislative Council is similar to the Council of State (Rajya Sabha). Their sessions are also quite similar. Article 174 of the Indian Constitution gives the power to the Governor to summon these Houses of the State Legislature. He/ She can summon these bodies to meet at places and at such times which he/ she thinks fit or appropriate. But a necessary condition should be kept in mind is that the time period between the two sessions of these Houses should not exceed six months. Also as mentioned in Article 174 of the Indian Constitution, the Governor has the power to prorogue either House and to dissolve the Legislative Assembly.
Speaker and Deputy Speaker
There is a need for head or in charge of every legislative part. The Speaker and Deputy Speaker serve the same purposes in the Legislative Assembly. Article 178 of the Indian Constitution talks about the same. According to this article, there should be a Speaker and Deputy Speaker should be chosen from the Legislative Assembly. In this, it is also mentioned that the condition where if the office of Speaker and Deputy Speaker becomes vacant then it becomes the duty of the Legislative Assembly to choose the new Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.
Powers and Functions of Speaker
Article 178 gives the power to Speaker to preside over the sessions of the Legislative Assembly of the state. Similar powers are given to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, as mentioned in Article 93 of the Indian Constitution. The power and position of an Indian Speaker are quite similar to t