A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of an

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

(constituency) to the

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

State government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

in the Indian system of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. 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 Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

, the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of India's

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. There are also members in three

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

legislatures in

Union Territories Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own state government systems. Unlike states, Union Ter ...

: the

Delhi Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi is the unicameral legislature of the union territory of Delhi in India. Delhi Legislative Assembly is the legislative arm of the Government of Delhi. At present, it consists ...

Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, also known as the Jammu and Kashmir Vidhan Sabha, is the legislature of Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Prior to 2019, the State of Jammu and Kashmir had a bicameral legislature with a ...

and the

Puducherry Legislative Assembly The Puducherry Legislative Assembly (French language, French: ''Assemblée législative de Pondichéry'') is the unicameral legislature of the Indian States and union territories of India, union territory (UT) of Puducherry (union territory), P ...

. 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 the job. Only a Member of the Legislative Assembly can become the Speaker of the Legislature.

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 An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

, 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 Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, has 403 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 out of which 3 are nominated by central government.

Mizoram Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its Capital city, capital and largest city. It shares 722-kilometres (449 miles) of international borders with Bangladesh to the west, and Myanmar t ...

and

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

have only 40 members each.

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

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

and the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

had the power to nominate one member 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.

Nominated MLAs in states and UTs

Up to three MLAs can be nominated in the union territory of Puducherry by the central government who enjoy equal powers as elected MLAs. Interestingly, as clarified by the Supreme court of India, these MLAs hold the same voting powers as the elected MLAs. Between 1957 and 2019, before the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution of India, the former 89-member

had 2 seats reserved for the nominated women members. Additionally, the Lieutenant Governor may nominate two representatives of Kashmiri migrant families to the assembly, one of which is reserved for woman.

Qualification

The qualifications to become a member of the Legislative Assembly are largely similar to the qualifications to be a member of Parliament. # The person should be a citizen of India. # Not less than 25 years of age 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. # 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. # The person should not be convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment of 2 years or more. # Person must be sound of mind.

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, but not more than six months at a time. The Legislative Council is the upper house of the State. Just like the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, 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 legislature, known as a state legislative council, 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. All other states have abolished the upper house by the above-mentioned method, as the upper house causes unnecessary problems, expenditures and issues.MLA Post Tenure
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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 to 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 to the Constitution.

Introduction

Nominated MLAs in states and UTs

Qualification

Term

Powers

MLAs by States

MLAs by party affiliation

See also

References