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Lok Sabha not be a proclaimed offender or insolvent. Also,
he should not hold any office of profit in the
The Lok Sabha can comprise of a maximum of
545 members, of whom 543 are elected from government.
different states and not more than 20 are elected Functioning of the Lok Sabha
from union territories. Two members are At its first session after general elections, the
nominated from the Anglo-Indian community, if members choose a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker.
the President feels that it has not been properly
The Speaker is the Presiding Officer of the Lok
represented in the Parliament. At present, the Sabha. He conducts the day-to-day business of the
strength of the Lok Sabha is 543 elected members
house. It is with his permission that the members
and 2 nominated members.
can present bills and speak. The Deputy Speaker
The Lok Sabha is elected for a term of 5 years, but supervises the functioning when the Speaker is not
it can be dissolved by the Parliament even before present in the house.
the expiry of its term. Also, its life can be increased
The quorum of the Lok Sabha is one-tenth, that is,
during an emergency, for a period of six months at a minimum of one-tenth of total members should
one time, and not more than 3 years in total.
be present in each sitting, else the sitting is
The members of the Lok Sabha are elected directly adjourned.
by the people. The whole country is divided into
Rajya Sabha
constituencies consisting of a large number of
voters. All citizens of India above the age of 18 The Rajya Sabha is the Upper House or the
years who have been registered on the electoral Council of States. It represents the states of the
rolls are eligible to vote in the elections. The votes Indian Union. The representatives from different
are cast by secret ballot, that is, in this system, it is states and union territories are elected as the
not possible to know who voted for whom. members of the Rajya Sabha depending on the
population of the state. The maximum strength of
Most of the candidates contesting elections to the the Rajya Sabha can be 250, of which 12
Lok Sabha represent political parties; however, members are nominated by the President from
there can be some private or independent
eminent people in the fields of art, music, science,
candidates too. The political party which is able to literature, social sciences etc. and other members
win elections for more than one-half of total are elected by the state legislative assemblies. The
constituencies, forms the government (Council of
present strength of the Rajya Sabha is 245 out of
Ministers). In case any one political party is not whom 12 members are nominated by the
able to secure majority (more than one-half of the President.
elected seats), two or more political parties can
form a coalition, and then this coalition forms the Qualification of Members
government. If the members of the Lok Sabha fail A citizen of India above the age of 30 years can
to form a coalition, the election is contested be elected or nominated as the member of the
afresh. Rajya Sabha.
F ind Outind Out Functioning of the Rajya Sabha
Who is the speaker of the Lok Sabha at present? The Vice President is the ex-officio Chairman of
the Rajya Sabha, while the Deputy Chairman is
Qualification of Members chosen from amongst the members. The Rajya
Sabha is a permanent house, that is, it cannot be
A citizen of India can contest elections to become
dissolved. The term of the Rajya Sabha is six years
a member of the Lok Sabha if he is above 25 years and one-third of its members retire every two
of age, has his name registered on the electoral
years. A member of the Rajya Sabha can be re-
rolls in any constituency of India. A member must
elected to the house.
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