State Legislature — Vidhan Sabha, Vidhan Parishad & Legislative Procedure (Art 168–212)

Organisation of the State Legislature

🎯 Exam priority: Important. The composition ratios are classic Prelims traps — a Legislative Council's strength is capped at one-third of the Assembly, it is not fixed at that fraction, and its floor is 40. Learn the Assembly's 500/60 range, the Council's five-part electoral college, and keep comparing every rule back to what you already know about Parliament — examiners love testing exactly where the two differ.

The state legislature occupies a pre-eminent, central position in a state's political system. Articles 168 to 213 in Part VI govern its organisation, composition, duration, officers, procedure, privileges and powers — closely mirroring Parliament, but with real differences worth knowing precisely.

Organisation — One House or Two

• Article 168 lets a state have either one or two Houses. There is no uniformity: most states are unicameral (Governor + Legislative Assembly only); currently only six states are bicameral — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka — adding a Legislative Council. Where bicameral, the Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) is the upper house (house of elders) and the Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) the lower, popular house. The J&K Legislative Council was abolished by the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019; Tamil Nadu's 2010 Council Act has never been brought into force.

• Article 169 lets Parliament create or abolish a state's Legislative Council — but only if that state's own Assembly first passes a resolution by special majority (total membership + two-thirds present & voting). The resulting Parliamentary law is not treated as a constitutional amendment under Article 368 — it is passed like an ordinary law, by simple majority. This is how Andhra Pradesh's Council was created (1957), abolished (1985) and revived (2007); Punjab, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu abolished theirs in 1969/1969/1986.

Composition — Legislative Assembly & Legislative Council

Strength, nomination and delimitation rules for the Assembly — then the very different, indirectly-elected Council.

Composition of the Legislative Assembly (Article 170)

• Members are directly elected from territorial constituencies on universal adult franchise. Strength ranges from a maximum of 500 to a minimum of 60 — except Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Goa (min. 30) and Mizoram (40) / Nagaland (46), a favourite "odd one out" Prelims trap.

• Anglo-Indian nomination ended: until 2020 the Governor could nominate one Anglo-Indian member (a person of European descent in the male line, domiciled and settled in India) if the community was under-represented — a provision renewed every 10 years, last extended to 2020 by the 95th Amendment, 2009. The 104th Amendment (2019) did not extend it further, so it lapsed on 25 January 2020.

• Delimitation freeze: seats are meant to be readjusted after every census, but the 42nd Amendment (1976) froze each state's total Assembly-seat count at the 1971-census level, and the 84th Amendment (2001) extended that freeze until the first census after 2026 (a population-control incentive — states that curbed population growth fastest would otherwise have lost seats). Constituency boundaries within that fixed total were redrawn using the 2001 census (87th Amendment, 2003).

• SC/ST reservation of Assembly seats (population-proportional) has been renewed every 10 years since 1960; the 104th Amendment (2019) extends it to 2030.

Composition of the Legislative Council (Article 171)

• Council strength is capped at one-third of the Assembly's strength (a ceiling, not a fixed fraction) with a floor of 40; Parliament fixes the exact number. Unlike Assembly members, Council members are indirectly elected through a five-part electoral college: 1/3 by local bodies (municipalities, district boards); 1/12 by graduates of 3+ years' standing; 1/12 by teachers of 3+ years' standing (secondary school or above); 1/3 by MLAs from among non-members; and the remaining 1/6 nominated by the Governor for special knowledge in literature, science, art, the co-operative movement or social service.

• So 5/6 of a Council is indirectly elected and 1/6 nominated — elections use proportional representation by the single transferable vote (each voter ranks the candidates in order of preference, instead of casting one flat vote). This scheme is only the constitutional default; Parliament may modify it by law, though it never has.

Duration, Membership & Disqualification

The Assembly is temporary and re-elected whole; the Council is permanent and renews itself gradually — a distinction that shapes everything else about membership.

Duration of the Two Houses (Article 172)

• The Legislative Assembly is not a continuing chamber: its normal term is five years from its first sitting, after which it automatically dissolves; the Governor may dissolve it earlier. During a National Emergency (Article 352), Parliament may extend its term one year at a time, indefinitely, capped at six months after the Emergency ends.

• The Legislative Council is a permanent, continuing body — never dissolved. One-third of its members retire every second year (so each member serves six years), with vacancies refilled by fresh election/nomination at the start of every third year; retiring members may be re-elected or re-nominated any number of times.

Membership — Qualifications, Disqualifications & Vacation of Seat

• Qualifications (Article 173): citizen of India; an oath/affirmation of allegiance to the Constitution and to India's sovereignty and integrity (Article 188); minimum age 25 years for the Assembly, 30 years for the Council; plus Representation of the People Act, 1951 conditions (must be an elector for an assembly constituency in that state; SC/ST candidates may also contest general seats).

• Disqualifications (Article 191), under the Constitution and the RPA 1951: holding an office of profit (a minister is exempted); unsound mind or undischarged insolvency; not a citizen or under allegiance to a foreign state; specified electoral offences, a conviction carrying 2+ years' imprisonment, unlodged election-expense accounts, an interest in government contracts, dismissal from government service for corruption/disloyalty, or convictions for promoting enmity, bribery, untouchability, dowry or sati. The Governor's decision on a disqualification question (Article 192) is final, but only after obtaining the Election Commission's opinion.

• Defection (Tenth Schedule) — the Constitution's separate anti-defection provisions: a member is also disqualified on defection grounds, but this question is decided by the Chairman (Council) or Speaker (Assembly), not the Governor. In Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu (1992), the Supreme Court held that this decision is subject to judicial review.

• Vacation of seat (Article 190) also follows from: holding both Houses' seats simultaneously (must resign one); resignation (effective on acceptance); 60 days' unexcused absence from all meetings; election voided by a court; expulsion by the House; election as President/Vice-President; or appointment as a state's Governor. A member sitting/voting before taking the oath, or while disqualified, risks a ₹500-per-day penalty (Article 193).

Presiding Officers & Sessions

Each House elects its own presiding officers on the same pattern — and sessions follow rules nearly identical to Parliament's.

Presiding Officers (Articles 178–186)

• The Assembly elects a Speaker and Deputy Speaker (Article 178); the Council elects a Chairman and Deputy Chairman (Article 182) — all from among their own members, and all removable only by an effective-majority resolution (majority of all then-members, under Articles 179 and 183 respectively) after 14 days' advance notice. A panel of chairmen/vice-chairmen can preside in their absence. Salaries are charged on the State Consolidated Fund (Article 186) — not subject to annual vote.

• Powers mirror each other closely — maintaining order, being the final interpreter of the Constitution/rules/precedent within the House, deciding Tenth-Schedule disqualifications for their own House, and casting a vote only to break a tie. The Speaker alone holds one power the Chairman does not: certifying whether a bill is a Money Bill — a decision that is final.

Governor's Address & Sessions (Articles 174–176)

• The Governor summons, prorogues and can dissolve the Assembly (Article 174), and — like the President's address to Parliament — addresses the House(s) at the start of the first session after each general election and the first session of every year, laying out the government's policy (Article 175 lets the Governor send messages to a House at any other time too; Article 176 covers this "special address"). The gap between two sessions cannot exceed six months (so the legislature meets at least twice a year).

• Adjournment pauses a sitting; prorogation ends a session (by the Governor's notification once the presiding officer has adjourned it sine die, i.e. for an indefinite period); dissolution ends the Assembly's very life — the Council, being permanent, is never dissolved.

• Bills on dissolution: a bill pending in the Assembly lapses; one passed by the Assembly but pending in the Council lapses; one pending in the Council but not yet passed by the Assembly does not lapse; and any bill merely awaiting the Governor's/President's assent, or returned for reconsideration, does not lapse either.

• Quorum (Article 189) is 10 members or one-tenth of total membership (including the presiding officer), whichever is greater. Ordinary matters need a simple majority of members present and voting (excluding the presiding officer, who gets only a casting vote on a tie); a few matters need an effective or special majority instead.

• Language (Article 210): business is conducted in the state's official language(s), Hindi or English (mother-tongue allowed with the presiding officer's permission); a state may discontinue English as a floor language after 15 years from 1950 (i.e. 1965) — extended to 25 years for Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura, and 40 years for Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram.

• Rights of Ministers and the Advocate General (Article 177): both may speak in either House or its committees without being a member of it — but cannot vote there. This lets a minister who sits only in the Council address the Assembly, and vice versa. Members' own salaries and allowances (Article 195) are similarly fixed by the state legislature itself.

Legislative Procedure — Ordinary Bills, Money Bills & Assent

The procedural core: how a bill actually becomes law, and exactly how much leverage the Council has to slow one down.

Legislative Procedure — Ordinary Bills (Articles 196–197)

• An ordinary bill (bicameral states) may originate in either House, passing three readings in the originating House before transmission; it is deemed passed only when both Houses agree. On receiving an Assembly-passed bill, the Council has four choices: pass it as-is; amend and return it; reject it outright; or sit on it and do nothing.

• No joint sitting exists at the state level (unlike Parliament's mechanism for deadlocks). Instead, if the Council rejects/unacceptably-amends the bill, or sits on it for three months, the Assembly may simply re-pass it and send it back — the Council then has only one more month; whatever it does, the bill is deemed passed as the Assembly's second version. So the Council's maximum leverage is four months (3+1) — a delaying power only, never a veto. A bill that originates in the Council and is rejected by the Assembly simply dies, with no override route back.

Money Bills (Articles 198–199) & Assent (Articles 200–201)

• A Money Bill (Article 199) is one dealing exclusively with matters like state taxation, government borrowing, or the Consolidated/Contingency Fund of the state — the same substantive test Article 110 applies to Parliament. It can be introduced only in the Assembly, only on the Governor's recommendation, only by a minister. The Speaker's certification that a bill is a Money Bill is final and unchallengeable.

• The Governor's four options (Article 200) on any bill: assent; withhold assent; return for reconsideration (not for a Money Bill) — if re-passed, assent then becomes obligatory (a suspensive veto, same logic as the President at the Union level); or reserve it for the President — an option the President has no equivalent of. When reserved, the President (Article 201) may assent, withhold assent, or return it — the House(s) must then reconsider within six months; the Constitution does not say the President must eventually assent.

• The Sarkaria Commission — the Commission on Centre-State Relations set up in 1983, reporting 1988 — classified bills reserved for the President into three groups: (1) must be reserved — bills endangering a High Court's position, taxes on water/electricity attracting Article 288 (restrictions on a state taxing water/electricity supplied through certain inter-state or Union projects), or bills falling under Article 360's Financial Emergency; (2) may be reserved for specific immunity — e.g. under Article 31A (protects land/estate-acquisition laws) or Article 31C (protects laws implementing certain Directive Principles), both shielding a law from an Article 14/19 challenge; under Article 254 (letting a state law prevail over a repugnant central law on a Concurrent List subject, but only with Presidential assent); or under Article 304 (Presidential sanction for a bill restricting inter-state trade and commerce); (3) any other bill the Governor chooses to reserve under Article 200's residual discretion.

• Financial procedure (Articles 202–207) otherwise mirrors Parliament's Budget process at the state level — the Annual Financial Statement, Appropriation Bills, votes on account, and Financial Bills all have direct State Legislature equivalents of the Union provisions.

Council vs Assembly, Privileges & Why UPSC Asks This

Compared with the Assembly and with Parliament's own Rajya Sabha, the Council comes out clearly the weaker chamber — by constitutional design, not accident.

Council vs Assembly, and Council vs Rajya Sabha

• Where the Council is equal to the Assembly: introducing/passing ordinary bills (subject to the Assembly's final word on disagreement); approving the Governor's ordinances (Article 213); being a source for ministers including the CM (though ministers stay responsible only to the Assembly); and considering reports of bodies like the State Finance Commission (reviews how revenue is shared with Panchayats/Municipalities), the State Public Service Commission (SPSC), and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), India's chief auditor for government accounts.

• Where it is clearly unequal: no power over Money Bills beyond a 14-day return; can discuss but never vote on the Budget or Demands for Grants; cannot remove a ministry by no-confidence (only the Assembly can); has no role in Presidential or Rajya Sabha elections from the state; has no effective say in ratifying a constitutional amendment; and its very existence rests on the Assembly's willingness — Parliament can abolish it under Article 169 whenever the Assembly asks.

Critics have long dismissed under-used Councils as a "secondary chamber" or "costly ornamental luxury" — a soft landing for politicians who lost their Assembly seat. Defenders counter that it checks hasty legislation and gives eminent non-politicians (through the Governor's 1/6 nominees) a route into the legislature they could never win by direct election.

Privileges (Article 194) & Restrictions on Discussion

• Collective: publish its own proceedings; exclude strangers and hold secret sittings; regulate its own procedure; punish members and outsiders for breach of privilege or contempt; get immediate notice of a member's arrest; summon witnesses and records. No arrest or legal process may be served inside the House without the presiding officer's permission.

• Individual: no arrest in civil cases during a session and 40 days before/after it; complete freedom of speech (immune from court proceedings for anything said or voted in the House); exemption from jury duty. These privileges extend to ministers and the Advocate General when they participate — but pointedly not to the Governor, despite being formally part of the state legislature.

• Two express limits sit alongside these privileges: Article 211 bars any discussion in the State Legislature on the conduct of a Supreme Court or High Court judge in discharging judicial duties, and — the flip side of the collective privilege above — Article 212 bars courts from inquiring into the Legislature's own proceedings at all (the state-level mirror of Article 122, Parliament's equivalent bar).

Further Reading

• Standard NCERT-level texts and reference books on the Indian Constitution and Polity (any UPSC reading list).

• The Constitution of India (Bare Act) — Articles 168–213 (The State Legislature) and Article 169 (creation/abolition of Legislative Councils).

Why UPSC Asks This

• Composition-ratio traps — 500/60 for the Assembly, "one-third cap, not a fixed fraction" plus a 40-floor for the Council — are recurring Prelims bait.

• Kihoto Hollohan and the Sarkaria Commission's three-way bill-reservation list are landmark-case/committee names that resurface across Governor, Emergency and Federalism questions too.

• Articles 211 and 212 mirror Articles 121 and 122 at the Union level — a classic "match the corresponding Article" question.

Test Yourself: Practice Questions & PYQs

State Legislature practice — composition ratios of the Assembly and Council, duration, disqualification and the Tenth Schedule, presiding officers, Money Bill vs ordinary Bill procedure, and the Governor's/President's assent options. Then Prelims-pattern PYQs.

Practice Questions

Q1. How many States currently have a bicameral State Legislature with a Legislative Council?

• (a) Six

• (b) Five

• (c) Four

• (d) Eight

Q2. A Legislative Council can be created or abolished by:

• (a) The state Assembly alone, by simple majority

• (b) The Governor alone, by notification

• (c) The President, on the Prime Minister's advice

• (d) Parliament, by law, if the state's own Assembly first passes a special-majority resolution

Q3. The maximum and minimum strength of a Legislative Assembly are:

• (a) 500 and 60

• (b) 545 and 40

• (c) 450 and 50

• (d) 552 and 70

Q4. The strength of a Legislative Council is:

• (a) Decided solely by the Governor

• (b) Fixed at 40 members for every bicameral state

• (c) Capped at one-third of the Assembly's strength, with a floor of 40

• (d) Fixed at exactly one-third of the Assembly's strength

Q5. Under the Council's electoral college, MLAs (voting for non-members) account for what share of its membership?

• (a) 1/2

• (b) 1/3

• (c) 1/12

• (d) 1/6

Q6. Which statement about the two Houses' duration is correct?

• (a) The Council is a permanent body; the Assembly's normal term is five years and it stands automatically dissolved thereafter

• (b) The Assembly is permanent; the Council is dissolved every five years

• (c) Both the Assembly and the Council can be dissolved

• (d) Both Houses are permanent, continuing bodies

Q7. The question of a State Legislature member's disqualification on the ground of defection under the Tenth Schedule is decided by:

• (a) The Election Commission alone

• (b) The Governor

• (c) The Speaker (Assembly) or Chairman (Council), subject to judicial review

• (d) The President

Q8. Which power does the Speaker of a Legislative Assembly have that the Chairman of a Legislative Council does not?

• (a) Presiding over debates

• (b) Adjourning the House for want of quorum

• (c) Casting a vote to break a tie

• (d) Certifying, with final effect, whether a Bill is a Money Bill

Q9. At most, for how long can a Legislative Council delay an ordinary Bill passed by the Assembly?

• (a) Three months

• (b) Six months

• (c) One month

• (d) Four months (three, then one more)

Q10. A Money Bill returned by the Legislative Council to the Assembly must be sent back within:

• (a) One month

• (b) 14 days

• (c) Three months

• (d) 7 days

Q11. Which of the following is NOT an option available to a State Governor when a Bill is presented for assent?

• (a) Withhold assent

• (b) Return the Bill for reconsideration

• (c) Give assent

• (d) Refer the Bill directly to the Supreme Court for an advisory opinion

Q12. Per the Sarkaria Commission, a Governor MUST reserve a Bill for the President's consideration if it:

• (a) Endangers the position of the High Court

• (b) Was introduced by a private member

• (c) Concerns a Money Bill only

• (d) Deals with agriculture

Q13. Which Article of the Constitution defines what counts as a "Money Bill" for a State Legislature?

• (a) Article 199

• (b) Article 213

• (c) Article 200

• (d) Article 196

UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Pattern: Legislative Council composition traps (one-third ceiling, not a fixed fraction); vacation-of-seat grounds; Kihoto Hollohan and the Tenth Schedule; Article 211/212 restrictions on the Legislature; quorum and session-gap rules; bill-lapsing on dissolution.

Q14. Consider the following statements about the Legislative Council of a State: (1) Its maximum strength can never exceed one-third of the total membership of the Legislative Assembly of that State. (2) Its actual strength in every bicameral State is exactly one-half of the Assembly's strength. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only

• (b) 2 only

• (c) Both 1 and 2

• (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Q15. With reference to a State Legislature, which of the following is a valid ground for a member to vacate the seat?

• (a) Being younger than 35 years of age

• (b) Missing a single sitting of the House without permission

• (c) Publicly criticising the Chief Minister

• (d) Remaining absent from all meetings of the House for sixty days without permission

Q16. In Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu (1992), the Supreme Court held that:

• (a) Defection disqualification can only be decided by the Election Commission

• (b) The Speaker's/Chairman's decision on defection disqualification under the Tenth Schedule is subject to judicial review

• (c) The Governor's decision on defection disqualification is final and non-justiciable

• (d) The Tenth Schedule itself is unconstitutional

Q17. A State Legislature cannot discuss or ask questions on:

• (a) The conduct of a judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court in the discharge of official duties

• (b) The Governor's exercise of discretionary powers as reported in the media

• (c) The State Budget

• (d) The policies of the Council of Ministers

Q18. Which Article bars courts from inquiring into the proceedings of a State Legislature?

• (a) Article 208

• (b) Article 212

• (c) Article 194

• (d) Article 200

Q19. The quorum to transact business in a House of a State Legislature is:

• (a) Ten members, or one-tenth of total membership, whichever is greater

• (b) Fifty-five members in every State

• (c) A simple majority of total membership

• (d) One-fourth of total membership

Q20. The maximum permissible gap between two sessions of a State Legislature is:

• (a) Six months

• (b) Three months

• (c) Nine months

• (d) One year

Q21. A Bill passed by a Legislative Assembly but still pending — without having been passed — in the Legislative Council, on the dissolution of that Assembly:

• (a) Lapses automatically

• (b) Does not lapse, since the Council is a continuing body

• (c) Must be reserved for the President

• (d) Is automatically deemed to have been passed

Mains Practice Questions

Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly — they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover.

• Why is a state's Legislative Council constitutionally weaker than the Rajya Sabha? Examine with reasons.

• Distinguish the legislative procedure for an ordinary Bill from that for a Money Bill in a State Legislature.

• Explain the Governor's options on a Bill presented for assent, and when reservation for the President is obligatory under the Sarkaria Commission's classification.

• "The Legislative Council is a costly ornamental luxury." Critically examine this view against its stated utility.

• Discuss the constitutional provisions governing disqualification of State Legislature members, including the role of the Tenth Schedule.

• Compare the presiding officers of the two Houses of a State Legislature in terms of election, removal and powers.