Page 187 - SST Class 07

legislature (or Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan The term of a Vidhan Sabha is five years, but it
Parishad), the state executive and the judiciary
(High Court).
STATE LEGISLATURE
A state legislature can have one or two houses.
The lower house is called the Vidhan Sabha
legislative assembly and is far more powerful than
the upper house, called the Vidhan Parishad
legislative council. When a state legislature is
composed of two houses, it is called bicameral,
and when it has only one house, it is called
unicameral.
Info Bits
Info Bits
Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
and Maharashtra have bicameral legislatures while
all other states have unicameral legislatures.
Vidhan Sabha
Also called the legislative assembly, the Vidhan
Sabha of a state cannot have more than 500
members. Its members are called Members of
Legislative Assembly (MLA’s). The size of a
Vidhan Sabha depends on the size and population
of a state. Though the minimum number of
members of a Vidhan
Sabha is fixed at 60, yet
the number of members
for very small states can
be lower, such as for Goa,
Mizoram, Nagaland and
Sikkim. Vidhan Sabha
A person can become the member of a Vidhan
Sabha provided he is an Indian and is above the
age of 25 years. A state is divided into several
constituencies which are represented by MLA’s.
An MLA is directly elected by the people of a
constituency by secret ballot.
Just Think!
(a) Who is the present MLA form your area or
locality?
(b) How many MLA’s are there in your state?
can be dissolved before the expiry of this period
also. Its period can be extended during an
emergency for a maximum of six months by the
resolution of the Parliament.
Speaker of Vidhan Sabha
or After elections, the Vidhan Sabha is constituted. At
its first meeting, the members elect the Speaker
or and Deputy Speaker. The Speaker presides over
the meetings of the Vidhan Sabha. Any bill or
resolution in it can be introduced or passed only
with his assent. He controls the functioning of the
Vidhan Sabha and maintains discipline and
decorum. He decides if a bill
is a money bill or not. He
supervises the voting on bills.
He can adjourn the meetings
of the Vidhan Sabha. In his
absence, the Deputy Speaker
takes over his functions. Hriday Narayan Dikshit 17th
Speaker of UP Vidhan Sabha
Vidhan Parishad
Only six states of India have a bicameral
legislature. The upper house in these states is
called the Vidhan Parishad or legislative council.
A member of a Vidhan Parishad is called a
Member of Legislative Council (MLC). A person
can become an MLC if he
is above the age of 30
years and if he is a citizen
of India. The MLC’s are
either nominated or
elected by indirect vote
through electoral college. Vidhan Parishad
The Vidhan Parishad elects its Chairperson and
Deputy Chairperson who preside over its
meetings.
A Vidhan Parishad is a permanent body, like the
Rajya Sabha in the centre. One-third of its
members retire every two years. Thus, a person
can be its member for a period of six years.
Relations between Vidhan Sabha and
Vidhan Parishad
The powers of a Vidhan Parishad are very limited
as compared to those of a Vidhan Sabha. The
State Government
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