8. State Legislature

In this part, lets learn in detail about the two houses in the state legislature.

 

Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha/Lower house):

The legislative assembly consists of representatives directly elected by the people. Its maximum strength is fixed at \(500\ \)and minimum strength at \(60\). It means that its strength varies from \(60\) to \(500\)depending on the population size of the state.  The members of this house are called as Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA).  Duration of legislative assembly is 5 years. To become a member of the lower house, one must not be less than 25 years of age.

  

Legislative council (Vidhan Parishad/Upper house):
The members of the legislative council are indirectly elected. The council's maximum strength is fixed at one-third of the total strength of the assembly and the minimum strength is fixed at 40. The members of this house are called, 'Member of Legislative Council( MLC)'.
To become a member of the legislative council, he/she must be not less than 30 years of age.

 

For election, the entire state is divided into several constituencies on the basis of the population.
Political parties nominate their candidates to each constituency.
All the people residing in that constituency who has completed 18 years of age cast their vote.
The candidate who gets the more number of votes is declared as elected and becomes MLA.
The Election Commission of India conducts and monitors the elections.
After the election the party which gets the more number of MLAs is declared as the majority party.
The Governor calls the leader of the majority party to form the state government.
In simple words a party whose MLAs has won more than half the number of constituencies in the state are called ruling party and forms the government.

The party which gets the total number of seats next to the majority party, acts as an opposition party in the legislature.
But all the MLAs of other political parties who do not belong to the ruling party are called opposition party.