Legislature

The legislature is the law making organ of government, but it does much more than make laws. It is the place where the representatives of the people meet, debate and hold the government to account. Because its members are elected from every part of the country, the legislature is the most representative organ of government.

The national legislature of India is called Parliament. It has two houses, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. A legislature with two houses is called bicameral. The States may have one house or two, and most of them have only one.

A parliament does several jobs at once. It makes the laws of the country. It controls public money because no tax can be collected and no public money spent without its approval. It controls the executive because a government can stay in office only while it holds the support of the majority in the Lok Sabha. The parliament is also the highest forum of debate, where any matter facing the nation can be discussed openly. These debates let members raise the concerns of the people who elected them.

Parliament has two houses because a large and diverse country gains from having every decision examined twice. A bill passed by one house goes to the other. So a measure taken in haste in one house can be reconsidered in the other.

The Lok Sabha is the House of the People. Its members are elected directly by the people from territorial constituencies of roughly equal population. Every adult citizen has one vote of equal value. The Lok Sabha has 543 elected members and a term of five years, though it can be dissolved earlier. The five-year term is not absolute in one situation. While a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, Parliament may by law extend the term, one year at a time (Article 83(2)). A piece of map trivia is also asked: Ladakh is the largest Lok Sabha constituency by area.

The Rajya Sabha is the Council of States. It represents the States and is elected indirectly. The elected members of each State assembly choose that State's members of the Rajya Sabha. States with larger populations get more seats than smaller States. Members serve for six years. One third of them retire every two years. So the Rajya Sabha is never fully dissolved and is called a permanent house. The President also nominates twelve members who have distinguished themselves in fields such as literature, science, art and social service.

Three points about nominated members are tested often:

• Ministership: there is no constitutional bar on a nominated member becoming a Union minister.
• Voting in elections: nominated members vote in the election of the Vice-President but not in the election of the President.
• Anglo-Indian seats: the two nominated Anglo-Indian members sat in the Lok Sabha, not the Rajya Sabha, under Article 331. The 104th Amendment (2020) ended this provision.

Articles:

• Article 79: Parliament consists of the President, the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
• Article 80: composition of the Rajya Sabha: up to 250 members, of whom 12 are nominated by the President.
• Article 81: composition of the Lok Sabha: up to 552 members, the elected ones chosen directly.
• Article 83: the Lok Sabha lasts five years unless dissolved sooner; during an Emergency the term may be extended one year at a time. The Rajya Sabha is a permanent House, one-third of its members retiring every two years.

Parliament makes the laws. Most major bills are drafted by the ministries and the cabinet, and a bill rarely passes without the support of the government. Parliament controls the spending of the government through the budget. The government must explain how it has used public money and how much more it wishes to raise. Parliament represents the many regions, communities and interests of the country. It is the chief forum where they are heard. Parliament also amends the Constitution, elects the President and the Vice President, and takes part in the removal of judges.

The two houses are not equal in every power. On most matters they are equal, including ordinary bills and amendments to the Constitution. Money bills are different. A money bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha can suggest changes but cannot reject it or hold it beyond fourteen days. The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha alone. So only the Lok Sabha can remove a government. Be careful not to stretch this exclusivity further. A Proclamation of Emergency must be approved by both Houses, and the impeachment of the President also involves both Houses. Among the big weapons, only the no-confidence motion belongs to the Lok Sabha alone.

The Rajya Sabha has one special power of its own. It can allow Parliament to make a law on a subject in the State list when the national interest requires it. Such a resolution under Article 249 must be passed by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting. Treaties follow a separate route. Under Article 253, Parliament can make a law for the whole or any part of India to implement an international treaty, agreement or convention. No State's consent is needed for such a law, even when it touches a State subject.

Articles:

• Articles 109–110: the special procedure for a Money Bill and what counts as one (introduced only in the Lok Sabha).
• Article 112: the annual Union Budget, laid before Parliament as the Annual Financial Statement.
• Article 249: the Rajya Sabha may, in the national interest, let Parliament legislate on a State List subject, by a resolution of two-thirds of members present and voting.
• Article 253: Parliament may legislate for the whole or any part of India to implement international treaties, without the consent of any State.
• Article 312: the Rajya Sabha may let Parliament create new All-India Services.

A proposed law is called a bill. A bill brought by a minister is a government bill, while a bill brought by any other member is a private member's bill. Private members' bills rarely succeed, but they are not a dead letter. Fourteen of them have become law in the history of Parliament, though none has passed in recent decades. Before a bill is introduced, parties, interest groups and citizens often debate it. So law-making is a political process, not just a legal one.

Within Parliament a bill passes through three stages. It is first introduced and its broad aims are explained. It is then studied in detail, often by a committee that examines it closely and reports back. Such committees are called miniature legislatures because they do this detailed work. In the final stage the bill is discussed clause by clause and voted upon. A bill must be passed by both houses. If the two houses disagree, the deadlock may be resolved in a joint sitting. Once both houses pass the bill it goes to the President. The bill becomes law when the President gives assent.

A joint sitting is presided over by the Speaker. It decides by a simple majority of those present and voting, so the larger Lok Sabha usually prevails. A joint sitting can be used for an ordinary bill or a financial bill of the first class. It is never used for a Money Bill, because the Rajya Sabha has no power to block one. It is also not available for a Constitution Amendment Bill (Article 108(1)).

Joint sittings have been held only three times:

• 1961: the first joint sitting, which passed the Dowry Prohibition Bill.
• 1978: the second, which passed the Banking Service Commission (Repeal) Bill.
• 2002: the third, which passed the Prevention of Terrorism Bill.

What happens to a pending bill when the Lok Sabha is dissolved is a favourite exam point, because the answer depends on exactly where the bill is:

• A bill pending in the Lok Sabha (whether it started there or came up from the Rajya Sabha) lapses on dissolution.
• A bill passed by the Lok Sabha but still pending in the Rajya Sabha lapses as well.
• A bill pending in the Rajya Sabha that the Lok Sabha has not yet passed does NOT lapse (the Rajya Sabha is a permanent House).
• A bill for which the President has already notified an intention to summon a joint sitting does NOT lapse (Article 108(5)).
• A bill passed by both Houses and pending the President's assent does not lapse, nor does one returned by the President for reconsideration.

By contrast, prorogation does not cause bills to lapse: pending bills are expressly saved (Article 107(3)), while only notices, motions and resolutions fall. Mere adjournment has no such effect at all.

Articles:

• Articles 107–111: how an ordinary bill is introduced, passed by both Houses and sent to the President for assent.
• Article 108: a joint sitting of both Houses to resolve a deadlock over a bill. Money Bills are excepted (Article 108(1)).
• Article 107(3): bills do not lapse on prorogation. Article 108(5): a bill with a notified joint sitting does not lapse on dissolution.

The most important task of Parliament is to keep the executive in check. In a parliamentary system the government is drawn from the majority. Without watchful members, the system could slip into the rule of the cabinet alone. Parliament uses four main tools to control the executive:

• Discussion: the sharpest check. During the question hour, held on every day that a house sits, ministers must answer searching questions from members. The zero hour lets members raise urgent matters without prior notice.
• Approving or refusing laws: a government cannot get its programme passed without the consent of the house.
• Financial control: the legislature grants money through the budget and can ask how earlier grants were spent.
• The no-confidence motion: the strongest tool. When the Lok Sabha passes such a motion, the entire government must resign. Several governments have fallen this way since 1989 after losing the support of their coalition partners.

The motion is not mentioned in the Constitution. Article 75 states only that the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. The motion itself lives in the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha. Three procedural points are tested:

• Admission: the motion needs the support of 50 members to be admitted.
• Grounds: it need not state any grounds or reasons.
• Timing: once admitted, it must be taken up within ten days.

Other systems handle this differently. Germany uses a constructive vote of no confidence: the Bundestag can remove the Chancellor only by simultaneously electing a successor. A government there can never be voted out without a replacement ready.

The adjournment motion sets aside the listed business of the day to discuss a definite matter of urgent public importance. That is its purpose, and the exam tests it directly. Do not confuse it with the adjournment of a sitting, which merely suspends the sitting for a stated time and carries no element of censure.

Articles:

• Article 75: the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. The no-confidence motion itself is not in this Article; it comes from the Rules of the Lok Sabha.
• Article 53: the executive power of the Union is vested in the President.

A parliamentary system needs an organised opposition, and the opposition needs a recognised head. The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest party in opposition to the government. The office is not mentioned in the Constitution. It grew through convention and was later given legal backing.

The office was recognised for the first time in 1969, when Ram Subhag Singh of the Congress (O) was acknowledged as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It received statutory status under the Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977, a law that defines the office and grants the holder the salary and rank of a Cabinet Minister. By convention, the leader's party must have at least one-tenth of the total strength of the House, which in the Lok Sabha means 55 of the 543 elected seats. There is no requirement of 75 members. When no party crosses this bar, the office stays vacant, as it did in the first Lok Sabha and again after the 2014 and 2019 elections.

One historical detail is tested often. In the first Lok Sabha (1952), the single largest party in opposition was the Communist Party of India (CPI), not the Swatantra Party. The Swatantra Party was founded only in 1959 by C. Rajagopalachari, so it could not have sat in the first House. The Leader of the Opposition today also sits on the selection committees that choose officers such as the CBI Director, the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Lokpal, which makes the office a working part of institutional checks.

Parliament meets only for limited periods. A careful study of every bill and every department would take more time than the house has. Much of this detailed work is therefore done by committees. Standing committees watch over the work, budget and spending of the various departments and examine the bills that concern them. Joint committees can be set up to study a particular bill or to investigate a serious matter. The committees do the close work and report to the house. Parliament usually accepts their findings. This system eases the burden on Parliament and improves the quality of the laws it passes.

The Public Accounts Committee is the oldest and most prestigious financial committee. Its details are tested repeatedly:

• Composition: 22 members, 15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha. All are MPs; no outside "eminent persons" sit on it.
• Chairman: appointed by the Speaker. By convention the chair goes to a member of the Opposition.
• Work: it examines the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General and scrutinises the appropriation accounts and finance accounts of the Union.

• Committee on Subordinate Legislation: scrutinises delegated legislation. It checks whether the regulations, rules and by-laws made by the executive stay within the scope that Parliament conferred when it delegated the power.
• Committee on Government Assurances: tracks the promises and undertakings ministers give on the floor of the House and reports on how far they have been carried out.
• Rules Committee: proposes amendments to the House's own rules of procedure.
• Business Advisory Committee: allots time for the business of the House.
• Ethics Committee: oversees the moral conduct of members. In the Lok Sabha it began as an ad-hoc committee and was made permanent later. Any person, not only an MP, may complain against a member. It cannot take up a matter that is sub-judice.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs links the government to the two Houses. It works under the overall direction of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. It nominates MPs to the committees, councils and boards set up by the government. It also constitutes the Consultative Committees of MPs attached to the ministries, including the informal committees for individual Railway Zones.

Members of Parliament do more than legislate. Under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), launched in 1993, each MP can recommend development works in his or her area. It is a central sector scheme, fully funded by the Union government and administered by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Each MP gets Rs 5 crore a year, released in two instalments.

The MP only recommends works. The district authority sanctions and executes them. A Lok Sabha member recommends works within the constituency. A Rajya Sabha member may choose works anywhere in the home state. A nominated member may choose works anywhere in the country. The rules that the exam tests most are these:

• Durable assets: funds must create durable community assets, such as physical infrastructure for health, education, drinking water and roads.
• SC/ST earmarking: a specified share of each MP's fund must benefit Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe populations, 15 per cent for SC areas and 7.5 per cent for ST areas.
• Non-lapsable funds: the money is sanctioned yearly but unused funds can be carried forward to later years. They do not lapse.
• Inspection: the district authority must inspect at least 10 per cent of all works under implementation every year.

Parliament also governs its own conduct. The presiding officer of the Lok Sabha is the Speaker. The Speaker has the final say in running the business of the house and in matters of discipline. The Speaker is elected by the House from among its members soon after its first sitting (Article 93). Note the tenure carefully, because it is a tested trap. The Speaker does not vacate office when the Lok Sabha is dissolved. He or she continues in office until immediately before the first meeting of the new House. A few points the exam returns to again and again:

• The Speaker does not vote in the first instance. He or she exercises a casting vote only to break a tie (Article 100(1)).
• The Speaker resigns by writing to the Deputy Speaker (Article 94).
• There is no constitutional requirement that the Speaker resign from his or her political party. Neutrality is observed only as a convention.
• The Speaker can be removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members of the House, and such a resolution needs 14 days' notice (Article 94).
• While a resolution for the Speaker's own removal is under consideration, he or she may not preside but may speak in and take part in the proceedings and may vote in the first instance. Only on this occasion does the Speaker vote like an ordinary member, but not in the case of a tie (Article 96).
• The Speaker certifies whether a bill is a Money Bill, and that decision is final (Article 110(3)–(4)). The Speaker also presides over a joint sitting of the two Houses (Article 118(4)).

The Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha is also elected by the House from among its members. Three points matter:

• Election date: the election of the Deputy Speaker is held on a date fixed by the Speaker.
• Powers while presiding: the Deputy Speaker has all the powers of the Speaker when presiding, and no appeal lies against his or her rulings.
• No party reservation: no rule reserves the post for the ruling party or the opposition. Offering it to the opposition is only a practice, not a requirement.

In the Rajya Sabha the Chairman is the Vice-President, who is not a member of the House. The Deputy Chairman, by contrast, is elected from among the members of the Rajya Sabha. The Chairman is thus the only presiding officer in Parliament who presides over a House he does not belong to. Remember also that nominated members vote in the election of the Vice-President but not in the election of the President.

G.V. Mavalankar was the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha and held the office from 1952 to 1956. Hukum Singh, G.S. Dhillon and Baliram Bhagat all served as Speakers later. K.V.K. Sundaram was never a Speaker; he served as Chief Election Commissioner. The exam has paired these names to catch the unwary.

Members enjoy a protection called parliamentary privilege. No member can face action outside the house for anything said inside it. This freedom lets members speak without fear (Article 105).

The anti-defection law is another tool of self-regulation. A member elected on the ticket of one party may be disqualified for leaving that party or for voting against its instructions. The presiding officer decides such cases. The law was meant to stop members from changing sides for personal gain. In practice, it has also increased the hold of party leaders over ordinary members. Two pieces of fine print are tested. A nominated member may join a political party within six months of taking the seat; the Tenth Schedule disqualifies such a member only for joining a party after those six months. And the law sets no time-frame within which the presiding officer must decide a defection case.

A member can also be disqualified for holding an office of profit under the government. The Constitution does not define the term "office of profit"; the courts have evolved the tests. The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 exempts several posts from this disqualification, and the Act has been amended five times.

Two basics round off this section. When a member is speaking, the Speaker may ask him or her to stop and let another member speak. This is called yielding the floor. And elections to the Lok Sabha follow the first-past-the-post system. The candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins. A winner therefore needs only a plurality, not fifty per cent of the votes polled.

Articles:

• Articles 93–96: the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha: their election, duties and removal.
• Articles 89–90: the Chairman (the Vice-President) and Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
• Article 105: the powers and privileges of the Houses and their members, including freedom of speech inside Parliament.
• Article 102 and the Tenth Schedule: grounds for disqualifying a member, including defection from the party.

Parliament is dealt with in Articles 79–122 (Part V) and consists of the President and the two Houses.

The two Houses, in numbers:

• Rajya Sabha: a maximum of 250 (currently 245): up to 238 representatives of the states and UTs, elected by the elected MLAs through proportional representation (single transferable vote), plus 12 nominated members. It is a permanent House (not dissolved). One-third retire every two years and members serve 6 years.
• Lok Sabha: a maximum of 552. The 543 sitting members are elected directly; Article 331 earlier allowed two nominated Anglo-Indian members, ended by the 104th Amendment (2020). 5-year term (raised to 6 by the 42nd Amendment (1976), restored to 5 by the 44th Amendment (1978)), extendable one year at a time during an Emergency (Art 83(2)). Quorum is one-tenth of the House.

Presiding officers:

• Speaker: runs the Lok Sabha and certifies a Money Bill (Art 110, final).
• Deputy Speaker and Speaker Pro-Tem: assist the Speaker.
• Vice-President: ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Anti-defection: the Tenth Schedule, added by the 52nd Amendment (1985) and refined by the 91st Amendment (2003), disqualifies a member who leaves or defies the party. The Speaker/Chairman decides.

Sessions and devices: in practice three sessions a year (Budget, Monsoon, Winter), but the Constitution does not mandate any fixed number. What it does require is that the gap between two sessions cannot exceed six months (Article 85(1)), so Parliament must meet at least twice a year. There is no minimum number of sitting days. The President can summon Parliament at any time and at any place he thinks fit (Article 85), and both the summoning and the prorogation of a House are done by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

Distinguish the three ways a sitting can end (a recurring exam trap):

• Adjournment suspends a sitting for a stated time (hours, days, weeks). Adjournment sine die ends a session without fixing a date. The presiding officer (Speaker / Chairman) decides this, not the President. Pending business is unaffected.
• Prorogation ends a whole session. It is done by the President (on ministerial advice) and may be done even while the House is in session, though it usually follows an adjournment sine die. Pending bills do not lapse (Article 107(3)).
• Dissolution ends the very life of the Lok Sabha and forces a fresh election. Only the Lok Sabha is dissolved (the Rajya Sabha is permanent). The President dissolves it, save in exceptional circumstances, on the advice of the Council of Ministers (Article 85(2)). If the five-year term simply runs out, the House stands automatically dissolved by efflux of time; no formal Presidential order is needed. The Speaker does not go with the House: he or she continues in office until immediately before the first meeting of the new Lok Sabha.

Key floor devices:

• Question Hour (starred = oral, unstarred = written, short-notice) and Zero Hour.
• Motions:
  • adjournment
  • no-confidence (Lok Sabha only)
  • censure
  • cut motions (economy, policy, token)

Kinds of bills:

• Ordinary Bill: either House, simple majority. A joint sitting is available if the Houses disagree.
• Money Bill (Art 110): introduced only in the Lok Sabha and only on the President's recommendation. The Speaker's certificate that a bill is a Money Bill is final (Art 110(3)). The Rajya Sabha can only recommend changes within 14 days, which the Lok Sabha may accept or reject. There is never a joint sitting for a Money Bill. The special procedure is in Article 109. Article 110 defines a Money Bill as one dealing only with: taxes (imposition, abolition, alteration or regulation); government borrowing or guarantees; the custody of the Consolidated Fund and the Contingency Fund, and payments into or withdrawals from them; the appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India; expenditure charged on that Fund; and the receipt or audit of such money. The tested trap: appropriation under Article 110 is out of the Consolidated Fund, never the Contingency Fund.
• Financial Bill (Art 117): a bill that has some Money-Bill matter but not only that. Unlike a Money Bill, the Rajya Sabha can amend or reject it, and a joint sitting is available in case of deadlock. A financial bill of the first class still needs the President's recommendation to introduce.
• Constitution Amendment Bill (Art 368): can amend the Constitution by addition, variation or repeal. It needs a special majority (and, for some provisions, ratification by half the states). No joint sitting is available for it.

The budget (Art 112, the Annual Financial Statement): the Statement is caused to be laid before both Houses by the President (i.e. on behalf of the President, never "on behalf of the Prime Minister") (Article 112). It is passed through the following stages in sequence:

• Vote on Account
• General Discussion
• Voting on Demands for Grants (with the guillotine, whereby unvoted demands are put to the vote at once on the last day)
• Appropriation Bill
• Finance Bill

Since 2017 it is presented on 1 February with the railway budget merged in. Two points the exam tests:

• No demand for a grant can be made except on the recommendation of the President (Article 113), and the voting on Demands for Grants is the exclusive business of the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha only takes part in the general discussion.
• Money charged on the Consolidated Fund (e.g. judges' and the CAG's (Comptroller and Auditor General) salaries) is non-votable: it can be discussed but not voted on.
• The Appropriation Bill is treated as a Money Bill, so the Rajya Sabha can neither amend nor reject it. No money can be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund except under an Appropriation Act (Article 114).

Financial committees:

• Public Accounts Committee: 22 members (15 Lok Sabha + 7 Rajya Sabha), chairman appointed by the Speaker (Opposition by convention); examines the CAG's reports.
• Estimates Committee: the largest, Lok Sabha only.
• Committee on Public Undertakings.
• Department-Related Standing Committees (24, since 1993): scrutinise ministries.

The three funds:

• Consolidated Fund of India (Art 266(1)).
• Public Account (Art 266(2)).
• Contingency Fund (Art 267).

Members enjoy parliamentary privileges (Art 105).

Every State runs a smaller version of this machinery, the state legislature (Articles 168–212), which is covered in the topic on state government.