Delhi Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, also known as the Delhi Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral law making body of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, one of the eight union territories in India. It is situated in Delhi, NCT with 70 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).

Delhi Legislative Assembly
Type
Type
Term limits
5 years
History
Founded1993
Preceded byDelhi Metropolitan Council
Leadership
Speaker
Ram Niwas Goel, AAP
since February 2015
Deputy Speaker
Rakhi Birla, AAP
since 2015
Leader of the House
(Chief Minister)
Arvind Kejriwal, AAP
since 14 February 2015
Deputy Leader of the House
(Deputy Chief Minister)
Manish Sisodia, AAP
since 14 February 2015
Leader of the Opposition
Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, BJP
since 24 February 2020
Structure
Seats70
Political groups
Government (62)
  •   AAP (62)

Opposition (8)

Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
8 February 2020
Next election
February 2025
Meeting place
Old Secretariat, Delhi, India
Website
Legislative Assembly of Delhi

The seat of assembly is the Old Secretariat building, which is also the seat of the Government of Delhi.

History

The Delhi Legislative Assembly was first constituted on 7 March 1952 under the Government of Part C States Act, 1951; it was inaugurated by Home Minister K. N. Katju. The Assembly had 48 members, and a Council of Ministers in an advisory role to the Chief Commissioner of Delhi, though it also had powers to make laws. The first Council of Ministers was led by Chaudhary Brahm Prakash, who became the first Chief Minister of Delhi.[1][2]

However, the States Reorganisation Commission, set up in 1953, led to the Constitutional amendment through States Reorganisation Act, 1956, which came into effect on 1 November 1956. This meant that Delhi was no longer a Part-C State and was made a Union Territory under the direct administration of the President of India. Also the Delhi Legislative Assembly and the Council of Ministers were abolished simultaneously. Subsequently, the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 was enacted which led to the formation the Municipal Corporation.[1]

Then, in September 1966, with "The Delhi Administration Act, 1966", the assembly was replaced by the Delhi Metropolitan Council with 56 elected and five nominated members with the Lt. Governor of Delhi as its head. The Council however had no legislative powers, only an advisory role in the governance of Delhi. This set up functioned until 1990.[1][3]

This Council was finally replaced by the Delhi Legislative Assembly through the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991, followed by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 the Sixty-ninth Amendment to the Constitution of India, which declared the Union Territory of Delhi to be formally known as National Capital Territory of Delhi and also supplements the constitutional provisions relating to the Legislative Assembly and the Council of Ministers and related matters.[4] The Legislative Assembly is selected for period of five years, and presently it is the seventh assembly, which was selected through the 2020 Legislative Assembly election.

Delhi Legislative Elections

The election campaigns have played a critical role in determining the outcome of elections in Delhi. This is particularly evident in elections since 2000.[5]

Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Delhi were held in the following years:

Assembly building

Originally built 1912, designed by E. Montague Thomas to hold the Imperial Legislative Council and subsequently the Central Legislative Assembly (after 1919), till the newly constructed Parliament House of India in New Delhi (Sansad Bhawan) was inaugurated on 18 January 1927.[1]

The building also housed in the Secretariat of the Government of India, and was built after the capital of India shifted to Delhi from Calcutta, the temporary secretariat building was constructed in a few months' time in 1912, it functioned as the Secretariat for another decade, before the offices shifted to the present Secretariat Building on Raisina Hill.[6]

List of Assemblies
Assembly Election Year Speaker Chief Minister Party Opposition Leader Party
1st Assembly 1993 Charti Lal Goel Madan Lal Khurana Bharatiya Janata Party N/A Indian National Congress
Sahib Singh Verma
Sushma Swaraj
2nd Assembly 1998 Chaudhary Prem Singh Sheila Dikshit Indian National Congress Madan Lal Khurana Bharatiya Janata Party
3rd Assembly 2003 Ajay Maken
Chaudhary Prem Singh		 Vijay Kumar Malhotra
4th Assembly 2008 Yoganand Shastri
5th Assembly 2013 Maninder Singh Dhir Arvind Kejriwal Aam Aadmi Party Harsh Vardhan
6th Assembly 2015 Ram Niwas Goel Vacant
(no opposition with at least 10% seats)
7th Assembly 2020 Ramvir Singh Bidhuri Bharatiya Janata Party

See also

References
  1. "History of Delhi Legislative Assembly". Legislative Assembly of Delhi website.
  2. "Brahm Prakash: Delhi's first CM, ace parliamentarian". Hindustan Times. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  3. "Delhi Metropolitan Council(1966–1990)". Delhi Legislative Assembly. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  4. THE CONSTITUTION (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991
  5. "Decoding the elections in the largest democracy through its Capital City – Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR)". 8 February 2015.
  6. "Architectural marvels for the new capital". Hindustan Times. 20 July 2011. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014.
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