Legislative Council

                Legislative council 

Legislative Council, the second and upper house of the state legislature.  

It is a permanent house and the governor cannot dissolve it. 

Under Article 169, Parliament has been empowered to establish or abolish the Legislative Council in a State.

For this, a resolution to this effect must be passed by the Legislative Assembly of that State by a majority of its total membership and two-thirds majority of the members present and voting.

Thus the Legislative Council is a house which can be abolished but cannot be dissolved.Under Article 168 of the original constitution, it was provided that in some of the more populous states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharaja, Punjab, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the legislature would be bicameral and the rest of the states would have one house. 

Presently it was in 7 states.  Legislative Councils functioning in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir.

                         Bicameral state 

Two House States are called Bicameral state. 

                 Consitution of legislative council 

Article 171 Regarding the constitution of the Legislative Council. The total number of members of the Legislative Council in a State shall not exceed one-third of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly of that State.  Provided that the total number of members of a Legislative Council shall in no case be less than 40.

According to Article 171(3) the members of the Legislative Council are indirectly elected according to the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

A total of four types of electoral college elect the members of the Legislative Council in a fixed proportion and the remaining members are nominated by the Governor.

1- Electoral College of the Legislative Assembly- One-third of the members of the Legislative Council are elected by the electoral college of the members of the Legislative Assembly.

2- Electoral College of local bodies

          About one third of the members of the Legislative Council are elected by an electoral college made up of members from municipalities, district panchayats and other local bodies.

3:- Teachers' Electoral College.

   About 12th of the members of the Legislative Council are elected by those teachers who have been teaching for at least 3 years in secondary school or higher educational institutions within the states.

4:- Electoral College of graduates

About one-twelfth of the members of the Council shall be elected by such persons who have been post-graduate of a University for at least three years, equivalent to a graduate by any law made by Parliament.

  5- Members nominated by the Governor

   One-sixth of the members of the Legislative Council are nominated by the Governor from amongst such persons who have special knowledgeable experience in the field of social service on the Sahitya Vigyan Kala Co-operative Movement.

                      Term of office 

Legislative Council a permanent house. It never dissolves but 

One third of its members retire at the end of every second year 

And in their place the same number of new members are elected.

   Thus each member remains a member of the Legislative Council for 6 years. 

The Legislative Council cannot be dissolved but can be abolished by the Parliament on passing a resolution to this effect by the Legislative Assembly.

       Qualifications of Members 

According to Article 173, it is necessary for a person to be elected as a member of the Legislative Council

1- He is a citizen of India.

2- Must have completed 30 years of age.

3- have other qualifications as may be prescribed by any law made by Parliament.

 According to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the elected members of the Legislative Council must be a elector constituency of any Legislative Assembly of that State and the members to be nominated must be residents of the State of which the Legislative Council wishes to be a member.

               Officers 

According to Article 182 there are two main office bearers of the Legislative Council.  Both the Chairman and the Deputy chairman are elected by the Legislative Council from amongst its members.The office bearers continue in their office as long as they are members of the Legislative Council. Both of them can resign to each other.  Therefore, the Chairman sends his resignation letter to the Deputy chairman Deputy Chairman sends his resignation letter to the Chairman. Chairman or The Deputy Chairman can also be removed from office by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council.

Such a resolution cannot be moved unless at least 14 days prior notice of the option to move that resolution is given.