The State Legislative Assembly, also known as the Vidhan Sabha or the Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in each of the states and certain union territories of India. Members of the legislative assembly are often directly elected to serve five year terms from single-member constituencies. A legislative assembly may be dissolved in a state of emergency, by the governor on request of the chief minister of the respective state or union territory, or if a motion of no confidence is passed against the ruling majority party or coalition.

Definition and powers

As per the Constitution of India, where there is a unicameral legislature, the legislative body is termed as the legislative assembly. In bicameral jurisdictions, there exists a State Legislative Council. The legislative assembly has the power to create or abolish the legislative council of the respective state or union territory by passing a resolution to that effect by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting. In a bicameral legislature, a legislative assembly holds equal legislative power with the upper house of the state legislature, the State Legislative Council, in terms of passing of bills except in case of money bills. A normal bill can originate in any of the house, and is deemed to be passed only if it is cleared by both houses.

Members

The Constitution of India states that a legislative assembly must have no less than 60 members and a maximum of 500 members.

A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is directly elected from single-member constituencies, which are divided roughly equally based on the population of the region. The number of seats may be revised following a census by an act of the parliament. Five union territories are governed directly by the union government and have no legislative body.

!colspan=2|Ruling party

[[File:Ruling alliances.png|thumb|Colour-coded map of India showing the ruling alliances in various states and union territories:

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{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left;"style="font-size: 90%"

|+List by ruling party

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|17

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|1

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|1

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|1

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! colspan="3" |Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (7)

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|4

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! colspan="3" |Others (2)

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Defunct assemblies

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left;"style="font-size: 90%"

! Assembly

! Seat

! Period active

! Abolished by

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| Ajmer

|| Ajmer || 1950–1956 || rowspan="2"|States Reorganisation Act, 1956

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| Bhopal

|| Bhopal || 1949–1956

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| Bombay

|| Bombay || 1950–1960 || Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960

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| Coorg

|| Mercara || 1950–1956 || rowspan="3"|States Reorganisation Act, 1956

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| Hyderabad

|| Hyderabad || 1948–1956

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| Madhya Bharat

|| Gwalior|| 1948–1956

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| Madras

|| Madras || 1947–1969 || Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968

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| Mysore

|| Mysore || 1947–1973 || Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Act of 1973

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| PEPSU

|| Patiala || 1948–1956 || rowspan="4"|States Reorganisation Act, 1956

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| Saurashtra

|| Rajkot || 1948–1956

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| Travancore-Cochin

|| Trivandrum || 1949–1956

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| Vindhya Pradesh

|| Rewa || 1948–1956

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See also

  • Central Legislative Assembly
  • Lok Sabha
  • Rajya Sabha
  • State governments of India
  • State Legislature
  • List of Indian state legislative assembly elections

Notes

References

  • Legislative Bodies in India website