Explore About The Parliament Lok Sabha In Detail

The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body in the Republic of India. It has the only right to make laws in India. It is a bicameral, constituting the Lower house , known as the Lok Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, and they hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan, New Delhi.

The Members of Lok Sabha are elected by the common citizens of India, through voting. That is why the Lok Sabha is also known as the House of Common People, as the voting of common citizens of India helps to structure the Lok Sabha. The maximum number of seats as directed by the Constitution of India was 552. But now, the seats are 545. In these 545 seats, 543 seats are occupied through the Directs Voting Process, and other 2 are occupied by the members from the Anglo-Indian Society, who are nominated the President only. 

Every Year you and I go for voting right? Through that we elect the MP (Member of the Parliament) and the party with maximum number of votes gets the opportunity to structure the government. Technically the head of that party becomes the Speaker in Lok Sabha for the common people.

Now, How Does The MP Get Elected In Lok Sabha?

Each MP has a term limit of 5 years. The election is done through Universal Suffrage that means the citizens of India above 18 can only vote for the Lok Sabha Elections. 

The conditions that need to be fulfilled to become a member of the Lok Sabha are:-

1. One should be a citizen of India, and should be at least 25 years old.
2. Should not be sentenced to Imprisonment.
3. Should not be declared as Insolvent.

Each state is divided into constituencies. Every state is allotted a certain Lok Sabha seat. Apart from these, even union territories also get hold of seats. The voting system is followed by a simple rule known as “First Past the Post” system. It means that the winner takes all. We, the citizens of India, circulate around the different polling stations across the country to cast our votes.

Let’s take some real examples regarding this.

Now let’s consider the total seats are 100.

Parties along with seats are:-

1. Industrial Red Party (IRP) – 20
2. Leading Community League (LCL)-19
3. Western Family Union (WFU)-15
4. United Household Party (UHP)-13
5. First Transformation Party (FTP)- 6
6.  Enterprise Coalition-18
7. Modern Freedon Coalition (MFC)- 9

Now as per the example,IRP wins the Lok Sabha election. But there are certain problems that should be taken under consideration. 

1. According to the above data 20% of the citizens want to be the Lok Sabha election winner.
2. Similarly if there were more than 8 political parties, then the winning percentage of the ruling party could go down. This particular problem is known as the Minority Rule.
3. Two Party Systems: – In this system the party having lower seats have to merge with 2 parties in the higher order. Here, let’s say LCL merges with MFC to give max no. of seats, and LCL will end up having lesser ones. This problem will lead to hindrance in winning of some other parties, with different ideologies. That’s why this “First Past the Post” rule is not at all democratic in the Modern Day Voting rules. 

How Is The Prime Minister Elected?

The Prime Minister of the Nation is elected only by the members of the Lok Sabha. That means, every member of the Lok Sabha has to select among themselves  the PM, which further means he or she should be voted by more than 50% of the members of the Lok Sabha to get elected as PM.

So, if a Lok Sabha member gets votes of more than 273 MPs, then he or she can be the PM of the Nation.

How Is The Union Cabinet Formed?

The PM of the nation cannot handle the whole Government of India; they need assistance from a particular group of members of the Lok Sabha. Those are called the Union Council of Ministers. Each cabinet member has been assigned to various ministries, like- Finance, Defense, Education, Home Affairs, and many more. They all report to the PM of the nation.

Now, the members of the Cabinet can be from Rajya Sabha also. Then obviously the Members should be from the ruling party only as they have the highest no. of seats. These members will help to form the different ministries of the Nation. Hence, it is quite obvious that the PM will be from the ruling party only.

How Are The Speaker And Deputy Speaker Of The Lok Sabha Gets Elected?

The Speaker and the deputy speaker are elected by the MPs of the Lok Sabha. A majority of more than 273 voting of MPs is required to get elected as a speaker and deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha. Again it is quite obvious that the speaker and deputy speaker will be from the same ruling party. So, it is also in rule that the Deputy Speaker can be from the opposition party too, so that the government remains balanced in their decision makings. 

The speaker and the Deputy Speakers have following rights in the Lok Sabha:-

1. Maintaining proper discipline and decorum in the house.
2. Right to suspend any MP due to unruly behaviour.
3. Right to Move motions and Revolutions.

What Are The Proceedings Of Lok Sabha?

The proceedings of the Lok Sabha are issued by the Speaker. He or She collects the notices of business from the ministers and circulates them among the Members of the Lok Sabha in advance.

Thus 3 sessions of the Meetings are held throughout the year. These are:-

1. Budget Session (Feb – May)
2. Monsoon Session (July – Sep)
3. Winter Session (Nov – Dec)

A Day In Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha has 2 durations for their meetings in a day. The durations can be extended on the basis of the pressure of the business councils. The first hour of each session is known as the Question Hour where MPs raise their questions regarding different business issues.

This question can be differentiated in 3 categories, let’s quickly look at this.

1. Starred questions: – These questions are asked by the MPs and answered orally by the Minister in Charge. These questions can be picked through ballet for oral answer for a day.
2. Unstarred Question: – These types of questions can only be answered in a written version only. No follow-up questions are asked in this type of questions. A maximum of 160 questions are taken up for a day.
3. Short Notice Questions: – These questions are asked on urgent public notice, and can be discussed on the basis of urgency. These can be discussed after the question hour only.

Zero Hour: – This period is important as it starts from 12 o’clock in the afternoon. Only matters that are supremely urgent can be discussed in this session, without any prior notice.

The next session, from 2PM to 6PM is the period to discuss about the different criteria such as:-

1. Discussions on Business Bills.
2. Financial Business related to Budget.
3. Consider Motions and Resolutions.

The Bills of the Business can be differentiated into 2 categories.-

1. Government Bills– The bills that can be issued by the members of the government.
2. Private Member’s bill– A member not representing the government if issues a bill, then it is called the Private Bill.  

Conclusion

It is clear that the Lok Sabha is more powerful than the Rajya Sabha in almost all matters. The Constitution has placed both Houses on an equal footing; the Lok Sabha has more influence due to its greater numerical strength. The only limitation with the Lok Sabha is that it is a temporary body, which can be operated for five years from the date it came into force. Although both the bodies constitute the Bicameral-Parliament of India, where the Higher Assembly is the Rajya Sabha and the Lower Assembly is the Lok Sabha. Joint sittings of both the houses are held when there is a dispute regarding any legislation which is uncommon. However, the numbers of members of Rajya Sabha are half the members of the Lok Sabha.