State legislative assemblies of India

The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha,^[1] or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 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.

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]

Member of Legislative Assembly[]

To become a member of a State Legislative Assembly voters' list of the state for which they are contesting an election. They may not be a Member of Parliament and Member of the State Legislative Council at the same time. They should also state 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.

Powers of legislative assemblies are given below:

A motion of no confidence against the government in the state can only be introduced in the State Legislative Assembly. If it is passed by a majority vote, then the Chief Minister and her/his Council of Ministers must collectively resign.
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]

Current State Legislative Assemblies[]

Assembly	Image	Constituencies	Seat(s)	House strength	Ruling party		Current house
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly		List	Amaravati	175		YSR Congress Party	Fifteenth
Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly		List	Itanagar	60		Bharatiya Janata Party	Seventh
Assam Legislative Assembly		List	Dispur	126		Bharatiya Janata Party	Fifteenth
Bihar Legislative Assembly		List	Patna	243		Janata Dal (United)	Seventeenth
Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly		List	Naya Raipur	90		Indian National Congress	Fifth
Delhi Legislative Assembly		List	New Delhi	70		Aam Aadmi Party	Seventh
Goa Legislative Assembly		List	Panaji	40		Bharatiya Janata Party	Seventh
Gujarat Legislative Assembly		List	Gandhinagar	182		Bharatiya Janata Party	Fourteenth
Haryana Legislative Assembly		List	Chandigarh	90		Bharatiya Janata Party	Fourteenth
Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly		List	Shimla (summer) Dharamshala (winter)	68		Bharatiya Janata Party	Thirteenth
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly		List	Srinagar (summer) Jammu (winter)	85^†		N/A (President's rule)
Jharkhand Legislative Assembly		List	Ranchi	81		Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	Fifth
Karnataka Legislative Assembly		List	Bangalore (summer) Belgaum (winter)	224		Bharatiya Janata Party	Fifteenth
Kerala Legislative Assembly		List	Thiruvananthapuram	140		Communist Party of India (Marxist)	Fifteenth
Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly		List	Bhopal	230		Bharatiya Janata Party	Fifteenth
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly		List	Mumbai (summer) Nagpur (winter)	288		Shiv Sena	Fourteenth
Manipur Legislative Assembly		List	Imphal	60		Bharatiya Janata Party	Twelfth
Meghalaya Legislative Assembly		List	Shillong	60		National People's Party	Tenth
Mizoram Legislative Assembly		List	Aizawl	40		Mizo National Front	Seventh
Nagaland Legislative Assembly		List	Kohima	60		Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party	Thirteenth
Odisha Legislative Assembly		List	Bhubaneshwar	147		Biju Janata Dal	Sixteenth
Puducherry Legislative Assembly		List	Puducherry	33^‡		All India N.R. Congress	Fifteenth
Punjab Legislative Assembly		List	Chandigarh	117		Indian National Congress	Fifteenth
Rajasthan Legislative Assembly		List	Jaipur	200		Indian National Congress	Fifteenth
Sikkim Legislative Assembly		List	Gangtok	32		Sikkim Krantikari Morcha	Tenth
Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly		List	Chennai	234		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	Sixteenth
Telangana Legislative Assembly		List	Hyderabad	119		Telangana Rashtra Samithi	Second
Tripura Legislative Assembly		List	Agartala	60		Bharatiya Janata Party	Twelfth
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly		List	Lucknow	403		Bharatiya Janata Party	Seventeenth
Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly		List	Bhararisain (summer) Dehradun (winter)	70		Bharatiya Janata Party	Fourth
West Bengal Legislative Assembly		List	Kolkata	294		All India Trinamool Congress	Seventeenth
Total	—	—	—	4,121^[4]	—

State Legislative Assemblies by ruling parties[]

Current ruling parties in India

BJP (12)

BJP Alliance (5)

INC (3)

INC Alliance (3)

Unaligned Parties (7)

President's rule (1)

No legislature (5)

Ruling party		States/ UTs
State Govts Ruled By BJP & NDA (17)
	BJP	12	NDA
	JD(U)	1	NDA
	NDPP	1	NDA
	NPP	1	NDA
	AINRC	1	NDA
	SKM	1	NDA
State Govts Ruled by INC & UPA (6)
	INC	3	UPA
	DMK	1	UPA
	JMM	1	UPA
	SHS	1	UPA
State Govts Ruled By Unaligned Parties (7)
	AAP	1	AAP
	AITC	1	AITC
	TRS	1	TRS
	YSRCP	1	YSRCP
	BJD	1	BJD
	CPI(M)	1	LDF
	MNF	1	MNF

Former State Legislative Assemblies[]

Assembly	Seat	Period active	Abolished by
Ajmer Legislative Assembly	Ajmer	1950–1956	States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Bombay Legislative Assembly	Bombay	1950–1960	Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.
Coorg Legislative Assembly	Mercara	1950–1956	States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
Hyderabad Legislative Assembly	Hyderabad	1952–1956	States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
PEPSU Legislative Assembly	Patiala	1950–1956	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.

References[]

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

External links[]

Legislative Bodies in India website
Laws of India website to download laws made by different states

[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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v t Elections in India
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See also: Elections in Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal