The State Legislative Council, also known as the Vidhan Parishad or the 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 Article 169 of the Constitution of India.
Only 6 out of 28 states have a Legislative Council. These are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. No union territory has a legislative council.
Member of the Legislative Council
An MLC, or Member of a State Legislative Council, must be a citizen of India, at least 30 years old, mentally sound, not an insolvent, and must be an enrolled voter of the state. A member may not be a Member of Parliament and Member of the State Legislative Assembly at the same time. A member must not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any state.<br>The tenure of the MLCs is six years. One-third of the members of State Legislative Council retire after every two years. This arrangement parallels that for the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" width="30%"| Ruling party
! rowspan="2" |State Alliance
! rowspan="2" |National Alliance
|-
! Elected
!
! Total
|-
| Andhra Pradesh
|| Amaravati || align="center"|50 || align="center"|8 || align="center"|58
|
|Kutami
|NDA
|-
| Bihar
|| Patna || align="center"|63 || align="center"|12 || align="center"|75
|
|NDA
|NDA
|-
| Karnataka
|| Bengaluru <br/ >Belagavi
| align="center"|64 || align="center"|11 || align="center"| 75
|
|INDIA
|INDIA
|-
| Maharashtra
|| Mumbai <br/ >Nagpur
| align="center"|66 || align="center"|12 || align="center"|78
|
|NDA
|NDA
|-
| Telangana
|| Hyderabad || align="center"|34 || align="center"|6 ||align="center"|40
|
|INDIA
|INDIA
|-
| Uttar Pradesh
|| Lucknow || align="center"|90 || align="center"|10 || align="center"|100
|
|NDA
|NDA
|-
! Total!! style="text-align:center" | !! 367 !! 59 !! 426
! colspan="2" style="text-align:center" |
!
!
|}
State Legislative Councils by ruling parties
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
!colspan="2"|Ruling party
!States/UTs
|-
!colspan="3"|NDA (4)
|-
|
|3
|-
|
|1
|-
! colspan="3" |INDIA (2)
|-
|
|2
|-
|}
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is in power in 4 legislative councils; the Indian National Congress-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance is in power in 2 legislative councils; and 30 other states/union territories do not have a legislative council.
Former State Legislative Councils
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Council
! Seat(s)
! House strength
! Years active
! Abolished by
|-
| Assam Legislative Council || Shillong || 21-22 || 1935-1947 || India (Provincial Legislatures) Order, 1947
|-
| Bombay Legislative Council || Bombay || 78 || 1861–1960 || Bombay State Reorganisation Act, 1960
|-
| Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council || Srinagar <br/ >Jammu || 36 || 1957–2019 || Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019
|-
| Madhya Pradesh Legislative Council|| Bhopal || 90 || – ||
|-
| Punjab Legislative Council|| Chandigarh || 39 || 1952–1969 || Punjab Legislative Council (Abolition) Act, 1969
|-
| Tamil Nadu Legislative Council || Chennai || 78 || 1861–1986 || Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (Abolition) Act, 1986
|-
| West Bengal Legislative Council || Kolkata || 98 || 1952–1969 || West Bengal Legislative Council (Abolition) Act, 1969
|}
Proposed State Legislative Councils
There are currently 4 proposals for creation of Legislative Councils:
- Rajasthan Legislative Council - On April 18, 2012, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to create a Legislative Council for the state of Rajasthan with 66 members. The Rajasthan Legislative Council Bill, 2013 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 6, 2013, and has been referred to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice.
- West Bengal Legislative Council - On 6 July 2021, West Bengal Legislative Assembly passed a resolution supporting an ad-hoc committee report that favoured the creation of Legislative Council for the state of West Bengal.
- Odisha Legislative Council - On 18 September 2018, Odisha Legislative Assembly passed a resolution for setting up a Legislative Council for the state of Odisha with 49 members.
- Assam Legislative Council - on 14 July 2013, Assam Legislative Assembly passed a resolution for the creation of Legislative Council in the state of Assam with 42 members. The Assam Legislative Council Bill, 2013 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 3 December 2013.
Criticism and support
The State Legislative Councils are criticised for being unnecessary. It is considered a burden on the state budget and cause delays in passing legislation.