Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)

A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district (constituency) to the legislature of State government in the Indian system of government. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Each state has between seven and nine MLAs for every Member of Parliament (MP) that it has in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's bicameral parliament. There are also members in three unicameral legislatures in Union Territories: the Delhi Legislative Assembly, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Puducherry Legislative Assembly. Only a Member of the Legislative Assembly can work as a minister for more than 6 months. If a non Member of the Legislative Assembly becomes a Chief Minister or a minister, he must become an MLA within 6 months to continue in job. Only a Member of the Legislative Assembly can become Speaker of the Legislature.

Member of the Legislative Assembly of State Legislative Assemblies of India
TypeLegislative Assembly
AbbreviationMLA
Member of
Reports toGovernor of State
ResidenceRaj Bhavan
Seat
AppointerElected by Voters(citizen)

Introduction

In states where there are two houses, there is a State Legislative Council, and a State Legislative Assembly. In such a case, the Legislative Council is the upper house, while the Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the state legislature.

The Governor shall not be a member of the Legislature or Parliament, shall not hold any office of profit, and shall be entitled to emoluments and allowances. (Article 158 of the Indian constitution).

The Legislative Assembly consists of not more than 500 members and not fewer than 60. The biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, has 404 members in its Assembly. States which have small populations and are small in size have a provision for having an even smaller number of members in the Legislative Assembly. Puducherry has 33 members. Mizoram and Goa have only 40 members each. Sikkim has 32. All members of the Legislative Assembly are elected based on adult franchise, and one member is elected from one constituency. Until January 2020, the President had the power to nominate two Anglo Indians to the Lok Sabha and the Governor had the power to nominate one member[1] from the Anglo Indian community deems fit if the governor thinks that they are not adequately represented in the Assembly. In January 2020, the Anglo-Indian reserved seats in the Parliament and State legislatures of India were abolished by the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019.[2][3]

Qualification

The qualifications to become a member of the Legislative Assembly are largely similar to the qualifications to be a member of Parliament.

  1. The person should be a citizen of India.
  2. Not less than 25 years of age[4] to be a member of the Legislative Assembly and not less than 30 years (as per Article 173 of Indian Constitution) to be a member of the Legislative Council.
  3. No person can become a member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council of any state unless the individual is a voter from any constituency of the state. Those who cannot become members of Parliament also cannot become members of the state legislature.
  4. The person should not be convicted of any offense and sentenced to imprisonment of 2 years or more.

Term

The term of the Legislative Assembly is five years. However, it may be dissolved earlier than that by the Governor at the request of the Chief Minister, when the Chief Minister has actual majority support in the Assembly. The Assembly may be dissolved earlier if no one can prove majority support and become Chief Minister. The term of the Legislative Assembly may be extended during an emergency,[5] but not more than six months at a time. The Legislative Council is the upper house in the State. Just like the Rajya Sabha, it is a permanent House. The members of the state's upper house are selected based on the strength of each party in the lower house and by state gubernatorial nomination. The term is six years, and a third of the members of the House retire after every two years. The upper house of a state assembly, unlike the upper house of the Parliament, can be abolished by the lower house, if it passes a specific law bill, which states to dissolve the upper house, and gets it attested in both houses of parliament and then signed by the president into law. Only Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh have their upper houses in existence with a six-year term, J&K also has a six-year term lower house. All other states have abolished the upper house by the above-mentioned method, as the upper house causes unnecessary problems, expenditure and issues.[6]

Powers

The most important function of the legislature is law-making. The state legislature has the power to make laws on all items on which Parliament cannot legislate. Some of these items are police, prisons, irrigation, agriculture, local governments, public health, Pilgrimage, and burial grounds. Some topics on which both Parliament and states can make laws are education, marriage and divorce, forests, and the protection of wild animals and birds.

As regards money bills, the position is the same. Bills can originate only in the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council can either pass the bill within 14 days of the date of the receipt of the Bill or suggest changes in it within 14 days. These changes may or may not be accepted by the Assembly.

The state legislature, besides making laws, has one electoral power, in electing the President of India. Elected members of the Legislative Assembly along with the elected members of Parliament are involved in this process.

Some parts of the Constitution can be amended by Parliament with the approval of half of the state legislatures. Thus the state legislatures take part in the process of amendment of the Constitution.

MLAs by States

Members of Legislative Assembly by their political party (As of 27 April 2022)

State/UT Total Independent Vacant
BJP NDA INC UPA Others
Andhra Pradesh 175 0 Jana Sena (1) None YSRCP (150) 1
TDP (23)
Arunachal Pradesh 60 48 NPP (4) 4 None JD(U) (1)
IND (2) AITC (1)
Assam 126 63 AGP (9) 27 CPI(M) (1) AIUDF (15)
UPPL (7) BPF (3)
RD (1)
Bihar 243 77 JD(U) (45) 19 None RJD (75)
CPI(ML)L (12)
HAM-Se (4) AIMIM (5)
CPI (2)
IND (1) CPI(M) (2)
Chhattisgarh 90 14 None 71 None JCC(J) (3)
BSP (2)
Goa 40 20 MGP (2) 11 GFP (1) AAP (2)
Independent (3) RGP (1)
Gujarat 182 111 None 63 Independent (1) BTP (2) 4
NCP (1)
Haryana 90 40 JJP (10) 31 None INLD (1) 2
HLP (1)
IND (5)
Himachal Pradesh 68 43 None 22 None CPI(M) (1) 2
Jharkhand 82 26 AJSU (2) 17 JMM (30) None 2 + 1(nominated) 1
RJD (1)
NCP (1)
CPI(ML)L (1)
Karnataka 225 121 Independent (1) 69 Independent (1) JD(S) (32) 1 (nominated)
Kerala 140 None 20 IUML (15) CPI(M) (62) 5 1
CPI (17)
KC(M) (5)
Nationalist Congress Kerala (1) JD(S) (2)
NCP (2)
RMPI (1) LJD (1)
KC(B) (1)
KEC (2) NSC (1)
Cong(S) (1)
KC(J) (1) INL (1)
JKC (1)
IND (5)
Madhya Pradesh 230 127 Independent (4) 96 None BSP (2)
SP (1)
Maharashtra 288 106 RSPS (1) 44 SHS (57) AIMIM (2)
NCP (53)
BVA (3)
JSS (1) PJP (2) MNS (1)
SP (2)
SWP (1)
Independent (5) PWP (1) CPI(M) (1)
Independent (8)
Manipur 60 32 NPP (7) 5 Independent (1) None 2
JD(U) (6)
NPF (5)
KPA (2)
Independent (1)
Meghalaya 60 2 NPP (23) 5 NCP (1) AITC (12)
UDP (8)
PDF (4) KHNAM (1)
HSPDP (2)
IND (2)
Mizoram 40 1 None 5 None MNF (28)
ZPM (6)
Nagaland 60 12 NDPP (42) None None
NPF (4)
IND (2)
Odisha 147 22 Independent (1) 9 CPI(M) (1) BJD 114
Punjab 117 2 None 18 Independent (1) AAP (92)
SAD (3)
BSP (1)
Rajasthan 200 71 None 108 Independent (13) RLP (3)
BTP (2)
CPI(M) (2)
RLD (1)
Sikkim 32 12 SKM (19) None SDF (1)
Tamil Nadu 234 4 AIADMK (66) 18 DMK (125) None
VCK (4)
PMK (5) CPI (2)
CPI(M) (2)
PBK (1) MNMK (2)
KMDK (1)
TVK (1)
Telangana 119 3 None 6 None TRS (103)
AIMIM (7)
Tripura 60 33 IPFT (7) None CPI(M) (15) 5
Uttar Pradesh 403 255 AD(S) (12) 2 None SP (111)
RLD (8)
SBSP (6)
NISHAD (6) Jansatta Dal (L) (2)
BSP (1)
Uttarakhand 70 46 IND (2) 19 None BSP (2) 1
West Bengal 294 70 None None AITC (220) 1
GJM (1)
ISF (1)
Delhi 70 8 None None AAP (61) 1
Jammu and Kashmir 90 90
Puducherry 33 9 AINRC (10) 2 DMK (6) None
IND (6)
Total 4128 1378 339 691 435 1162 13 + 2(nominated) 104

MLC By State

State/UT Total Independent Vacant
BJP NDA INC UPA Others
Andhra Pradesh 58 2 None None YSRCP (33) 3
TDP (15)
PDF (4)
UTF (1)
Bihar 75 22 JD(U) (28) 4 CPI (2) RJD (11) 5
HAM-Se (1)
VIP (1)
RLJP (1)
Karnataka 75 37 IND (1) 25 JD(S) (11) 1
Maharashtra 78 25 RSPS (1) 9 SHS (14) None 15
NCP (10)
PWP (2)
IND (2)
Telangana 40 None 1 None TRS (33) 3 1
AIMIM (2)
Uttar Pradesh 100 68 AD(S) (1) 1 None SP (10) 9
NISHAD (1) BSP (3)
IND (6) Jansatta Dal (L) (1)
Total 426 154 41 40 30 124 11 26

MLAs by party affiliation

Party MLAs
1 Bharatiya Janata Party 1379
2 Indian National Congress 691
3 All India Trinamool Congress 234
4 Aam Aadmi Party 155
5 YSR Congress Party 150
6 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 139
7 Biju Janata Dal 114
8 Samajwadi Party 111
9 Telangana Rashtra Samithi 103
10 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 88
11 Rashtriya Janata Dal 78
12 Independent 70
13 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 66
14 Nationalist Congress Party 59
15 Shiv Sena 57
16 Janata Dal 52
17 Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party 42
18 Janata Dal 34
19 National People's Party 34
20 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha 30
21 Mizo National Front 27
22 Telugu Desam Party 23
23 Communist Party of India 21
24 Sikkim Krantikari Morcha 19
25 All India United Democratic Front 15
26 Indian Union Muslim League 15
27 All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen 14
28 Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation 13
29 Apna Dal 12
30 All India N.R. Congress 10
31 Jannayak Janta Party 10
32 Asom Gana Parishad 9
33 Naga People's Front 9
34 Rashtriya Lok Dal 9
35 Bahujan Samaj Party 8
36 United Democratic Party 8
37 Indigenous People's Front of Tripura 7
38 United People's Party Liberal 7
39 NISHAD Party 6
40 Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party 6
41 Zoram People's Movement 6
42 Kerala Congress 5
43 Pattali Makkal Katchi 5
44 Bharatiya Tribal Party 4
45 Hindustani Awam Morcha 4
46 People's Democratic Front 4
47 Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi 4
48 Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi 3
49 Bodoland People's Front 3
50 Janta Congress Chhattisgarh 3
51 Rashtriya Loktantrik Party 3
52 Shiromani Akali Dal 3
53 All Jharkhand Students Union 2
54 Hill State People's Democratic Party 2
55 Jansatta Dal 2
56 Kerala Congress 2
57 Kuki People's Alliance 2
58 Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party 2
59 Prahar Janshakti Party 2
60 Congress 1
61 Goa Forward Party 1
62 Gorkha Janmukti Morcha 1
63 Haryana Lokhit Party 1
64 Indian National League 1
65 Indian National Lok Dal 1
66 Indian Secular Front 1
67 Janadhipathya Kerala Congress 1
68 Janasurajyashakti Paksha 1
69 Jana Sena Party 1
70 Kerala Congress 1
71 Kerala Congress 1
72 Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement 1
73 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena 1
74 Nationalist Congress Kerala 1
75 National Secular Conference 1
76 Peasants and Workers Party of India 1
77 Raijor Dal 1
78 Rashtriya Samaj Paksha 1
79 Revolutionary Goans Party 1
80 Revolutionary Marxist Party of India 1
81 Sikkim Democratic Front 1
82 Swabhimani Paksha 1
Vacant 104
Total 4123

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.