Legislative Councils

• Recently Bye Elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council held by the members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

About Legislative Councils

• India has a bicameral system of legislature.
  • However, bicameralism at state level is optional.
  • Currently, only 6 out of 28 states have a Legislative Council– Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.
• At the state level, the equivalent of the Lok Sabha is the Vidhan Sabha or Legislative Assembly; that of the Rajya Sabha is the Vidhan Parishad or Legislative Council.
• Creation/abolition of legislative council:
  • Under Article 168, states can have either one or two Houses of legislature.
  • Article 169 leaves the choice of having a Vidhan Parishad to individual states.
  • Art 169 of the Constitution provides for the abolition or creation of Legislative Councils in States.

Process

• To set up the council, the legislative assembly of state must pass a resolution by a majority of total membership & not less than 2/3rd of the members of the assembly present & voting.
• However, such a resolution passed by legislative assembly of state is not binding on the Parliament.
  • It may or may not approve the resolution with simple majority.
• It is not be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of Article 368.

Membership:

• Under Article 171 of the Constitution, the Legislative Council of a state shall not have more than one-third of the total number of MLAs of the state, and not less than 40 members.
• All the members of the Legislative Council are either indirectly elected or nominated by the Governor.
• One-third of the MLCs are elected by the state’s MLAs.
• Another 1/3^rd by a special electorate comprising sitting members of local governments such as municipalities and district boards,
• 1/12^th by an electorate of teachers and another 1/12^th by registered graduates.
• The remaining 1/6^th members are appointed by the Governor for distinguished services in various fields namely, literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service.