State Legislature (Vidhan Sabha & Vidhan Parishad) for UPSC

By Dooit UPSC expert · 20 September 2026 · 12 min read

Most aspirants pour weeks into Parliament and then treat the state legislature as a footnote they can "revise from the Parliament chapter." That is a mistake I have watched cost marks for thirty years. The state legislature is not a smaller Parliament — it has its own articles, its own arithmetic, and one big difference the examiner loves to test.

Here is the reassuring part: once you have understood Parliament, the state legislature is largely a matter of learning where the design deliberately diverges. So read this as a companion to the Parliament of India chapter, and keep asking one question throughout — "how is this different from the Centre, and why?" That single habit turns a dull chapter into a set of memorable contrasts that survive till the exam hall.

The constitutional scheme: Articles 168–212

The state legislature is dealt with in Part VI of the Constitution, in Articles 168 to 212. Article 168 lays down the basic design: for every state there shall be a legislature consisting of the Governor and one or two Houses. Just as the President is an integral part of Parliament, the Governor is an integral part of the state legislature even though the Governor never sits in either House. No state bill becomes law without the Governor's assent, which is exactly why the office of the Governor is worth studying alongside this chapter.

A state may be bicameral (two Houses — a Legislative Assembly and a Legislative Council) or unicameral (only a Legislative Assembly). The Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, is the lower and more powerful House; the Legislative Council, or Vidhan Parishad, is the upper House. At present only six states have a council — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Every other state is unicameral, so the assembly alone is the legislature there.

Vidhan Sabha — the Legislative Assembly (Article 170)

The assembly is the directly elected House and the real seat of power in a state. Its members, the MLAs, are chosen by the people from territorial constituencies on the basis of universal adult franchise.

• Strength: normally between 60 and 500 members. Smaller states have a lower floor under special provisions — for example, Sikkim, Goa and Mizoram have far fewer than sixty seats by constitutional exception. Seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are reserved in proportion to their population.
• Term: five years from its first sitting (Article 172), but the Governor may dissolve it earlier on the advice of the Council of Ministers. During a national emergency, Parliament can extend its life by one year at a time.
• Qualification (Article 173): a candidate must be a citizen of India and at least 25 years old to contest an assembly seat.

The assembly does everything that matters: it sustains the state government, controls the purse, and its confidence alone decides whether a Chief Minister stays or falls. A no-confidence motion can be moved only here.

Vidhan Parishad — the Legislative Council (Article 171)

The council is the most examinable part of this chapter because its composition is uniquely elaborate. Remember two boundary numbers first: a council's total strength must not exceed one-third of the assembly's strength, and must never be fewer than 40. So a council is always the junior partner in size as well as power.

Its members are chosen in five distinct ways — the "one-third, one-twelfth, one-twelfth, one-third, one-sixth" formula that examiners test almost every year:

• 1/3 elected by local bodies — municipalities, district boards and other local authorities.
• 1/12 elected by graduates of three years' standing residing in the state.
• 1/12 elected by teachers of three years' standing, of secondary level and above.
• 1/3 elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly (the MLAs), from persons who are not themselves MLAs.
• The remaining (about 1/6) are nominated by the Governor from persons with special knowledge or practical experience in literature, science, art, the cooperative movement and social service.

The council is a continuing chamber like the Rajya Sabha — it is never dissolved. Each member serves a six-year term and one-third retire every two years. The minimum age to become a member is 30 years. These parallels with the Rajya Sabha are deliberate; the differences in power, which we turn to next, are equally deliberate.

Creating and abolishing a council (Article 169)

Here is a favourite examiner trap: a Legislative Council is not a permanent feature of a state's design. Under Article 169, Parliament may create or abolish a council if the Legislative Assembly of that state first passes a resolution to that effect by a special majority — a majority of the total membership of the assembly and at least two-thirds of the members present and voting.

Two subtleties are worth locking in. First, the assembly's resolution is only a recommendation; Parliament is not bound to act on it, and it makes the change by an ordinary law. Second — and this is the point students miss — such a law is expressly stated not to be treated as a constitutional amendment under Article 368. That is why the creation of a council needs only a simple parliamentary majority rather than the amendment route. This is exactly the kind of "which procedure applies" question the exam rewards.

The living proof is the count of six council states, which has changed over the decades as states have created or scrapped their upper Houses. The council of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, for instance, simply ceased to exist when the state was reorganised into two Union territories in 2019.

Bicameral or unicameral? The real debate

Aspirants often ask whether a second House at the state level is worth having. It is a genuine essay-and-interview question, so hold both sides.

The case for a council: it acts as a revising chamber that can check hasty or populist legislation; it gives representation to teachers, graduates and local bodies who might never win a direct election; and it lets the government bring in experienced administrators, jurists or academics who can enrich debate without contesting polls.

The case against: critics call it a costly, largely advisory body that can become a "backdoor to the legislature" for leaders who lost the popular vote, and a resting place for party loyalists. Because the council cannot ultimately block the assembly, some argue it delays without deciding. This tension — expertise and second thought versus cost and limited utility — is the heart of any answer on the subject.

Powers: why the council is weaker than the Rajya Sabha

This is the single most important contrast in the chapter, so give it your full attention. The Rajya Sabha, though a "weaker" House than the Lok Sabha, is still a genuinely co-equal partner in ordinary legislation — a bill needs both Houses, and a deadlock is resolved by a joint sitting. The Legislative Council enjoys no such standing.

• Ordinary bills: if the council rejects a bill, delays it beyond three months, or amends it in a way the assembly dislikes, the assembly can simply pass it again. The council then gets only one more month. After that, the bill is deemed passed in the form the assembly wants. The council can therefore delay an ordinary bill by a maximum of about four months — no more.
• No joint sitting: unlike Parliament, there is no provision for a joint sitting to resolve a deadlock between the two Houses of a state legislature. The assembly's will prevails on its own.
• Money bills: exactly as at the Centre, a money bill can be introduced only in the assembly. The council can keep it for a maximum of 14 days and make recommendations, which the assembly is free to accept or reject.

The takeaway, and the sentence that earns marks: the Legislative Council is subordinate and advisory, whereas the Rajya Sabha is co-ordinate and, in some respects, exclusive. If you can explain why — that the framers wanted a body of second thought at the state level without letting it obstruct an elected assembly — you have answered the "critically examine" version too.

How a state bill becomes law

Walk the path once and it becomes intuitive. An ordinary bill is introduced in either House (of a bicameral state), passed there, sent to the other House, and — after the council's limited power to delay is exhausted — presented to the Governor. The Governor may assent, withhold assent, return the bill for reconsideration (except a money bill), or reserve it for the President's consideration. If the House passes a returned bill again, the Governor must assent. In a unicameral state, delete the council step entirely — the assembly and the Governor are the whole story.

Presiding officers and privileges

The assembly elects a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker (Article 178) to conduct its business; the Speaker certifies money bills and decides on defection cases under the Tenth Schedule. The council elects a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman (Article 182). Sessions are summoned and prorogued by the Governor (Article 174), and the gap between two sessions cannot exceed six months. Members enjoy freedom of speech within the House and the usual legislative privileges, mirroring the parliamentary scheme.

Assembly vs Council at a glance

How UPSC actually asks this

In Prelims, expect crisp factual matches: the Article that deals with the composition of the council (171), the special majority needed for a resolution under 169, the maximum period the council can delay an ordinary bill, or the exact channels through which council members are chosen. Statements pairing the council with a "joint sitting" or calling it "co-equal with the assembly" are classic wrong options — reject them on sight.

In Mains GS Paper 2, the questions turn analytical: "The Legislative Council is a costly ornament in the crown of the state legislature. Critically examine." Here you must weigh the revising-chamber and representation arguments against cost and limited utility, and finish with a balanced judgement rather than a verdict. Interview boards, too, sometimes probe whether your home state should have a council — a small fact like the six-state count, deployed confidently, signals a well-read candidate.