LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

What is the legislature in India?

India is a democratic country where power is divided and every authority works in line with the constitution which is a living document. India has horizontal power sharing and three main components of this structure are legislature, executive and judiciary. All the three organs have different powers and responsibilities. Besides, the three are interdependent as well as independent. Legislature deals with framing of laws, executive implements these laws and judiciary comes into action where there are diversions in law.

The Constitution is a living document and in order to adapt itself as per the needs of an ever changing world, it needs amendment and revocation of old laws as well as addition of the new ones. This is what the legislature does apart from making laws. It amends, revokes and frames laws according to the needs of people in the country. Hence, legislature is that organ of the Indian democracy which frames, amends and revokes laws for the people. Legislature consists of two major sections in India.

Union Legislature

Union legislature is responsible for framing laws at national level which is going to affect all the citizens of the country. The Union legislature is  the house of parliament which consists of the upper house and the lower house, also known as Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. 

The head of the union legislature is the president (nominal head) and the prime minister, currently the house of parliament has a limit of 245 members in Rajya Sabha which is upper house and 543 members in Lok Sabha which is lower house. The basic difference between the two houses of the parliament is that the Lok Sabha which is also known as the house of people and has representatives directly voted by the people. Whereas the Rajya Sabha which is the upper house or the council of states has people who are representatives of state, Union territories and some of them are directly appointed by the president of India.

State Legislature

The state legislature of India is considered as the replica of the union legislature when it comes to its workings. The difference between both the legislative bodies is the area of operations. State legislature can only deal with the laws that affect the people of the state and not the whole country. It consists of legislative assembly and legislative council. Speaker leads the house.

In order to avoid conflicts in matters of union and state, there are three lists which specify the area of authority given to each legislature.

Union List

Union list consists of the matters in which legislation can be done by the house of parliament exclusively. It has subjects such as Indian defense inclusive of all the armed forces, railways, ports and many other subjects of national significance. As of today, the union list has 100 heads included in it.

State List

State list has all the matters that come under the jurisdiction of the state legislature and most of the rights are exclusively given to it in these matters such as police, liquors and many more. As of today, a total of 61 heads are a part of the state list.

Concurrent List-

The most important out of three lists is the concurrent list. There are many matters where legislative powers have been given to both the union and state legislature. The matters are listed in the concurrent list. In case of any conflict between the state and union over legislation of these laws, the laws made by the union shall prevail. As of today, there are 52 heads in the concurrent list.

Legislative Relations-

India is a federal nation where power lies with both union and state legislature and in order to avoid any legal conflicts between the union and state government, territorial and subject jurisdiction has been clearly defined in article 245 to article 254.

Composition of Legislature

India is a union of states where both states and central government has powers but here the union government has some significant powers such as control over defense and railways in order to promote national interest and avoid conflicts over decisions among different states.  India follows two kinds of legislative setups as stated below.

1. Bicameral Legislature- Bicameral legislature is a setup where the state consists of two houses like the union legislature. In India the two legislatures in this setup are the legislative assembly which is the lower house and the legislative council which is the upper house. At present only six states of India follow the bicameral legislature namely, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
2. Unicameral Legislature– The set-up where the state has only one legislative house is known as unicameral legislature. Under the unicameral legislature, only the legislative assembly exists. As of today, all the other states accept the six which follow bicameral legislature and three union territories have a unicameral legislature.

Legislative assembly which is also known as Vidhan Sabha is the lower house in the states with bicameral legislature and the only house with unicameral legislature. It also exist a in some union territories of India. 

The constitution has bestowed the legislative assembly with many powers and responsibilities. It can abrogate or revoke the legislative council of the state with a two-third majority and it can dissolve the ruling state government by motion of no confidence leading to collective resignation of the chief minister of state and the council of ministers. The legislative assembly frames laws on the matters of state and it introduces money bill which has to be passed by the legislative council which can hold it for not more than 14 days.

Democracy in India is for the people, of the people and by the people and every person have equal rights and responsibilities. Since, it is not possible for every citizen to involve themselves directly in the process of decision making, they send their representatives in the legislatures with their trust to make decisions for the country on their behalf. These representatives in the legislative assembly are known as members of legislative assembly and should not have any criminal records to be eligible for the position.

Conclusion

We’ve tried to list all the details on legislative assembly in this article. Hope the students will develop a clear concept of the Indian legislative system after going through this article thoroughly.