Understanding the Parliamentary Structure of India

Parliamentary Structure in India


The Indian parliament is considered to be a bicameral structure. It consists of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the President. Rajya Sabha represents the council of states and the upper house. Lok Sabha represents the house of the people and the lower house. In simple words, Lok Sabha represents the people of India and Rajya Sabha represents the states and union territories.

To further understand the structure of Indian parliament you need to understand the composition of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in depth.

Composition of Lok Sabha

The maximum number of people that can be elected in the Lok Sabha is 552. Out of these 552 people, 530 are elected to the members of the state. While 20 are members representing the Union Territories. The remaining 2 are representing the Anglo-Indian community which is elected by the President of India.

The current structure of Lok Sabha consists of 543 members. The members of representatives are directly elected by the people from their respective constituencies. Furthermore, the constitutional amendment act of 1988, the voting age was changed from 21 years to 18 years.

Read more: How many Parliamentary Committees are there in India?

Composition of Rajya Sabha

The maximum number of people that can be elected in the Rajya Sabha is 250. Out of this, 238 are elected as state representatives and the remaining 12 are nominated by the president. The 238 also have representatives from Union Territories.

The current number of representatives in Rajya Sabha are 245. Out of these, 233 are state representatives and 12 are nominated by the president. The fourth schedule of the constitution is used for the election of seats in Rajya Sabha to states and union territories.

The elected member of state legislatures elects the state representatives in Rajya Sabha. The tenure of MP’s is different for both the houses. The Lok Sabha does not follow continuous members as the general term of Lok Sabha elections is 5 years. The committee dissolves after the end of 5 years. It counts from the first day of the general meeting until the next general elections.

On the other hand, Rajya Sabha is considered to be a permanent house. 1/3rd members of the house retire every second year, and thus the house is not subjected to dissolution. The retiring members can re-elect themselves by re-nominating them for ‘n’ number of times they want.

Speakers of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha

The speaker and deputy speaker of Lok Sabha are elected among the members of the house. The speaker differentiates among the bills introduced in the house on whether they are money bill or not. The decision of the speaker is considered to be the final call without any questions.

The vice-president of India is the ex-officio chairman of Rajya Sabha, who presides the sessions. The deputy chairman is elected among the members of the house who looks after the day to day matters of the house in absence of the chairman.

The states also have a similar structure where the houses are named as Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad. The rules and number of members in the house is similar to that of the centre. The chairman of Vidhan Sabha is the deputy chief minister of the state and the rest are elected from among the people of the respective houses. Then, according to the states, there are minute differences in parliamentary sessions as compared to the centre.

Conclusion:

This was the basic idea of the structure of the parliament in India. In order to crack the competitive exams, one must learn about the parliament sessions and their structure. The parliamentary sessions convert the bill into an act after a detailed discussion and put to vote. Hence, both the houses play a very important role in making a law or amendments in the existing laws in our country.

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