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Parliament is the supreme legislative body of a country. Our Parliament comprises of the President and the two Houses —
Lok Sabha (House of the People)
Rajya Sabha (Council of States).
The President has the power to summon and prorogue either House of Parliament or to dissolve Lok Sabha.
The Constitution of India came into force on January 26, 1950. The first general elections under the new Constitution were held during the year 1951-52 and the first elected Parliament came into being in April, 1952, the Second Lok Sabha in April, 1957, the Third Lok Sabha in April, 1962, the Fourth Lok Sabha in March, 1967, the Fifth Lok Sabha in March, 1971, the Sixth Lok Sabha in March, 1977, the Seventh Lok Sabha in January, 1980, the Eighth Lok Sabha in December, 1984, the Ninth Lok Sabha in December, 1989, the Tenth Lok Sabha in June, 1991, the Eleventh Lok Sabha in May, 1996, the Twelfth Lok Sabha in March, 1998 and Thirteenth Lok Sabha in October, 1999.
Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha as the name itself signifies, is the body of representatives of the people. Its members are directly elected, normally once in every five years by the adult population who are eligible to vote. The minimum qualifying age for membership of the House is 25 years. The present membership of Lok Sabha is 545. The number is divided among the different States and Union Territories as follows:
(1) Andhra Pradesh 42
(2) Arunachal Pradesh 2
(3) Assam 14
(4) Bihar 40
(5) Chhattisgarh 11
(6) Goa 2
(7) Gujarat 26
(8) Haryana 10
(9) Himachal Pradesh 4
(10) Jammu & Kashmir 6
(11) Jharkhand 14
(12) Karnataka 28
(13) Kerala 20
(14) Madhya Pradesh 29
(15) Maharashtra 48
(16) Manipur 2
(17) Meghalaya 2
(18) Mizoram 1
(19) Nagaland 1
(20) Orissa 21
(21) Punjab 13
(22) Rajasthan 25
(23) Sikkim 1
(24) Tamil Nadu 39
(25) Tripura 2
(26) Uttaranchal 5
(27) Uttar Pradesh 80
(28) West Bengal 42
(29) Andaman & Nicobar Islands 1
(30) Chandigarh 1
(31) Dadra & Nagar Haveli 1
(32) Daman & Diu 1
(33) NCT of Delhi 7
(34) Lakshadweep 1
(35) Pondicherry 1
(36) Anglo-Indians (if nominated 2 by the President under Article 331 of the Constitution)
Rajya Sabha TOP
Rajya Sabha is the Upper House of Parliament. It has not more than 250 members. Members of Rajya Sabha are not elected by the people directly but indirectly by the Legislative Assemblies of the various States. Every State is allotted a certain number of members. No member of Rajya Sabha can be under 30 years of age.
Twelve of Rajya Sabha members are nominated by the President from persons who have earned distinction in the fields of literature, art, science and social service.
Rajya Sabha is a permanent body. It is not subject to dissolution but one-third of its members retire every two years. Rajya Sabha was duly constituted for the first time on April 3, 1952 and it held its first sitting on May 13, that year.
There are at present 245 members in Rajya Sabha, distributed among different States and Union Territories as follows:
(1) Andhra Pradesh 18
(2) Arunachal Pradesh 1
(3) Assam 7
(4) Bihar 16
(5) Chhattisgarh 5
(6) Goa 1
(7) Gujarat 11
(8) Haryana 5
(9) Himachal Pradesh 3
(10) Jammu & Kashmir 4
(11) Jharkhand 6
(12) Karnataka 12
(13) Kerala 9
(14) Madhya Pradesh 11
(15) Maharashtra 19
(16) Manipur 1
(17) Meghalaya 1
(18) Mizoram 1
(19) Nagaland 1
(20) Orissa 10
(21) Punjab 7
(22) Rajasthan 10
(23) Sikkim 1
(24) Tamil Nadu 18
(25) Tripura 1
(26) Uttaranchal 3
(27) Uttar Pradesh 31
(28) West Bengal 16
(29) NCT of Delhi 3
(30) Pondicherry 1
(31) Nominated by the President under 12 Article 80(1)(a) of the Constitution
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