State legislative assemblies of India

The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha,[1] is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 22 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature it is the sole legislative body and in 6 states it is the lower house of their bicameral state legislatures with the upper house being State Legislative Council. 5 Union territories are governed directly by the Union Government of India and have no legislative body.

For the upper house, see State legislative councils of India.

Each Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is directly elected to serve 5 year terms by single-member constituencies. The Constitution of India states that a State Legislative Assembly must have no less than 60 and no more than 500 members however an exception may be granted via an Act of Parliament as is the case in the states of Goa, Sikkim, Mizoram and the union territory of Puducherry which have fewer than 60 members. A State Legislative Assembly may be dissolved in a state of emergency, by the Governor on request of the Chief Minister, or if a motion of no confidence is passed against the ruling majority party or coalition.[2]

Qualifications required to become an MLA

To become a member of a State Legislative Assembly (MLA), a person must be a citizen of India, not less than 25 years of age, should be mentally sound, should not be bankrupt, and must be enrolled on the voters' list of the state for which he or she is contesting an election. He or she may not be a Member of Parliament and Member of the State Legislative Council at the same time. He or she should also state an affidavit that there are no criminal procedures against him or her.

A State Legislative Assembly holds equal legislative power with the upper house of state legislature, the State Legislative Council, except in the area of dissolution of state government and passing of money bills, in which case the State Legislative Assembly has the ultimate authority.

Special powers of the State Legislative Assembly
  • A money bill can only be introduced in State Legislative Assembly. In bicameral jurisdictions, after it is passed in the State Legislative Assembly, it is sent to the State Legislative Council, where it can be kept for a maximum time of 14 days.
  • In matters related to ordinary bills, the will of State Legislative Assembly prevails and there is no provision of joint sitting. In such cases, State Legislative Council can delay the legislation by maximum 4 months (3 months in first visit and 1 month in the second visit of the bill).
  • Legislative Assembly of the state has to power to create or abolish the State Legislative Council by passing a resolution to that effect by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting.[3]

List of State Legislative Assemblies
State Legislative Assembly
(Vidhan Sabha)		ImageList of constituenciesSeat/state capitalNumber of constituencies Ruling partyCurrent house
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly List Amaravati175 YSR Congress Party Fifteenth
Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly ListItanagar60 Bharatiya Janata Party Seventh
Assam Legislative Assembly ListDispur126 Bharatiya Janata Party Thirteenth
Bihar Legislative Assembly ListPatna243 Janata Dal (United) Seventeenth
Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly List Naya Raipur90 Indian National Congress Fifth
Delhi Legislative Assembly ListNew Delhi70 Aam Aadmi Party Seventh
Goa Legislative Assembly ListPanaji40 Bharatiya Janata Party Seventh
Gujarat Legislative Assembly List Gandhinagar182 Bharatiya Janata Party Fourteenth
Haryana Legislative Assembly ListChandigarh90 Bharatiya Janata Party Fourteenth
Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly List 68 Bharatiya Janata Party Thirteenth
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly List 85†
N/A
(President's rule)
Jharkhand Legislative Assembly ListRanchi81 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Fifth
Karnataka Legislative Assembly List 224 Bharatiya Janata Party Fifteenth
Kerala Legislative Assembly ListThiruvananthapuram140 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Fourteenth
Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly ListBhopal230 Bharatiya Janata Party Fifteenth
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly List 288 Shiv Sena Fourteenth
Manipur Legislative Assembly ListImphal60 Bharatiya Janata Party Twelfth
Meghalaya Legislative Assembly ListShillong60 National People's Party Tenth
Mizoram Legislative Assembly ListAizawl40 Mizo National Front Seventh
Nagaland Legislative Assembly ListKohima60 Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party Thirteenth
Odisha Legislative Assembly ListBhubaneshwar147 Biju Janata Dal Sixteenth
Puducherry Legislative Assembly ListPuducherry33‡ Indian National Congress Fourteenth
Punjab Legislative Assembly ListChandigarh117 Indian National Congress Fifteenth
Rajasthan Legislative Assembly ListJaipur200 Indian National Congress Fifteenth
Sikkim Legislative Assembly ListGangtok32 Sikkim Krantikari Morcha Tenth
Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly ListChennai234 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Fifteenth
Telangana Legislative Assembly ListHyderabad119 Telangana Rashtra Samithi Second
Tripura Legislative Assembly ListAgartala60 Bharatiya Janata Party Twelfth
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly ListLucknow403 Bharatiya Janata Party Seventeenth
Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly List 70 Bharatiya Janata Party Fourth
West Bengal Legislative Assembly ListKolkata294 All India Trinamool Congress Sixteenth
Total
—
—
—
4,121[4]
—

State Legislative Assemblies by ruling parties
Current ruling parties in India
  BJP (12)
  Coalition with BJP (6)
  INC (4)
  Coalition with INC (2)
  Other parties (AAP, AITC, BJD, CPI(M), TRS and YSRCP) (6)
  President's rule (1)
  No legislature (5)
Ruling party States/Union territories Alliance
Bharatiya Janata Party 12 National Democratic Alliance
Indian National Congress 4 United Progressive Alliance
Aam Aadmi Party 1 Others
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 1 National Democratic Alliance
All India Trinamool Congress 1 Others
Biju Janata Dal 1 Others
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1 Others
Janata Dal (United) 1 National Democratic Alliance
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha 1 United Progressive Alliance
Mizo National Front 1 National Democratic Alliance
National People's Party 1 National Democratic Alliance
Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party 1 National Democratic Alliance
Shiv Sena 1 United Progressive Alliance
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha 1 National Democratic Alliance
Telangana Rashtra Samithi 1 Others
YSR Congress Party 1 Others

Abolished State Legislative Assemblies
State Legislative Assembly
(Vidhan Sabha)		 Seat/state capital Year established Year abolished Notes
Ajmer Legislative Assembly Ajmer19501956abolished by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Bombay Legislative Assembly Bombay19371960abolished by the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.
Coorg Legislative Assembly Mercara19501956abolished by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Hyderabad Legislative Assembly Hyderabad 1952 1956 abolished by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Patiala and East Punjab States Union Legislative Assembly Patiala19501956abolished by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.

Notes
  • † – In Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, two seats are reserved for the nominated women members. In addition to that, twenty-four more seats are reserved for the representatives from Pakistan-administered Kashmir and not counted normally.
  • ‡ – In Puducherry Legislative Assembly, three seats are reserved for the members nominated by the Union Government of India.

See also

References
  1. "Vidhan Sabha". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers. 2014.
  2. "State Legislative Assemblies" (PDF). www.india.gov.in. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
  3. "Explainer: Why Jagan Reddy wants to abolish the legislative council in Andhra Pradesh".
  4. "Election Commission of India". eci.nic.in. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
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