The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the

bicameral legislature Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single gr ...

of the Indian state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses are the ''

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

'' (lower house) and the ''

Vidhan Parishad The State Legislative Council, or Vidhan Parishad, or Saasana Mandali is the upper house in those states of India that have a bicameral state legislature; the lower house being the State Legislative Assembly. Its establishment is defined in Ar ...

'' (upper house). The members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected by people through adult franchise. There are 224 members of the ''Legislative Assembly'' of Karnataka. Karnataka is divided into 224 constituencies used to elect the Legislative assembly members. Each

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

elects one member of the assembly. Members are popularly known as MLAs. The assembly is elected using the simple plurality or "first past the post" electoral system. The elections are conducted by the

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, dir ...

. The normal term of the members lasts for five years. In case of death, resignation, or disqualification of a member, a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

is conducted for constituency represented by the member. The party, or coalition which has the majority becomes the ruling party.

History

At 11:00 am on 18 June 1952, Wednesday, the first session of the legislative assembly was held at the old public office building conference hall (the present high court building) in Bangalore. On 16 December 1949, the maharaja of Mysore dissolved the representative assembly and the legislative assembly. The constituent assembly which was constituted in 1947 became the provisional assembly of Mysore until the elections were held in 1952. The first assembly formed under the Constitution had 99 elected and one nominated member. In the first sitting of the state assembly, V. Venkatappa was the honorary speaker who administered oath to the members including the then Chief Minister

Kengal Hanumanthaiah Kengal Hanumanthaiah (14 February 1908 – 1 December 1980), also spelt as Kengal Hanumanthaiya, was the second Chief Minister of Karnataka (then, Mysore State) from 30 March 1952 to 19 August 1956. He contributed to the construction of Vidhana ...

. He conducted an election to the post of speaker, which was contested by socialist leader Shantaveri Gopalagowda, and H. Siddaiah, where H. Siddaiah secured 74 votes and emerged victoriously and the first CM of Karnataka state Kengal Hanumanthaiah delivered the speech. With the formation of Andhra state in 1953, parts of Bellary district from Madras State were added to Mysore state and the strength of the Assembly increased by five members. After the re-organization of the state of Mysore came into being on 1 November 1956 with four districts from the former Bombay state, three districts of Hyderabad state, a district, and taluk of the old Madras state of Coorg, and the princely state of Mysore. The state was renamed Karnataka in 1973. The first sitting of the new assembly was held on 19 December 1956 in the newly built Vidhana Soudha. The strength of the assembly, which was 208 in 1957 increased to 216 in 1967 and to 224 plus a nominated member in 1978. The lone women Speaker of the Karnataka assembly was

K. S. Nagarathanamma K. S. Nagarathanamma (1923 – 17 October 1993) was an Indian politician from the southern state of Karnataka. She was elected seven times from the Gundlupet constituency to be member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. She was the first ...

from 24 March 1972 to 3 March 1978. The Budget Session and The Monsoon Session of the Legislature are held in Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru. The Winter Session of the Legislature is held in Suvarna Soudha, Belagavi.

List of assemblies

President's rule in the state

Members of Legislative Assembly

Source: Fifteenth Karnataka Legislative Assembly members list

Council of Ministers

References

External links

Karnataka Lok Sabha Election 2019 Result Website
{{Authority control State lower houses in India