Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly is a name by which several countries, even some states under commonwealth nations, are maintaining their law and order. There is a legislative assembly or Vidhan Sabha in every state. All the members of the assembly are elected through the voters of a state where a voter is that person who is of 18 years or older. After the elections, the members of the legislative assembly are selected by the ruling party. 

Discussion

India as a democratic country has been operating its law-and-order system through elections and nominating governing bodies. There are several countries like Australia, Canada, Malaysia, and Samoa governing through legislative assemblies.

• Australia 

In Australia, the lower houses of the parliaments are called Legislative Assemblies.

• Canada

Canada has ten provinces. Seven of them have designed their legislature as legislative assemblies. The other ones are under Legislative Councils.

• India

India with its 28 states and 3 union territories has both the legislative assemblies in states and union territories under the legislative council system. Out of all these, 5 union territories don’t have any legislative body. The government of India governs them. 

State Legislative Assembly or Vidhan Sabha

State legislative assemblies are mainly headed by the Chief Minister of every state elected by the people of the state. There are different numbers of seats categorised for different states. The maximum and minimum capacity of an assembly is decided to be 500 and 60 respectively by the constitution of India. However, in case of an emergency or need, these numbers can differ under the surveillance of Parliament.  In case of a state of emergency, the governor has the right to dissolve a legislative assembly if the chief minister wants.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

The members of the legislative assembly are directly elected through the voting system. They are nominated to work for five years. To become a member of the legislative assembly, these qualifications are required, 

• The person must be a citizen of India.
• He/she should have a minimum age of 25 years.
• The person should have to be on the voter’s list of the state.
• There should not exist any profitable organisation under his name,
• The person cannot be a government servant.

Vidhan Sabha has a tenure of 5 years. Though in case of emergency, the Governor can dissolve it under the advice of the Chief Minister. According to Article 356 of the constitution, the President can also dissolve it in case of a constitutional emergency. 

The tenure can even be extended. In case of a proclamation of national emergency under Article 352, the Parliament can extend the terms of the legislative assemblies. Though the extension may not be for more than a year. 

The presiding officer or The Speaker:

The members of the Vidhan Sabha nominate their speakers. The speaker organises the meetings, conducts its proceedings. He/she maintains order in the house, letting members ask or speak. The speaker puts bills under notation and other measures to vote on. However, in case of the absence of the speaker, the Deputy Speaker stays in the charge of the seat. He is also elected by the Assembly from amongst its members.

Conclusion

The main agenda of the legislative assembly and its members is that they represent people’s wish to the higher authority to make that a law. Except in the areas of dissolution of state government or passing of money bills, where the State Legislative Assembly has final authority, a State Legislative Assembly has equal legislative power with the higher chamber of the state legislature, the State Legislative Council.