INDIAN PARLIAMENT

The first organ of The Union Government is Legislature. The function of the legislature is to make laws. In India, the Union Legislature is known as the Parliament of India which consists of Upper House i.e. Council of States also known as Rajya Sabha, Lower House i.e. House of the People also known as Lok Sabha, and the President. The Parliament of India is a constitutional body under Article 79 of our Constitution and is bicameral ( i.e. have two Houses).

The very important question is: Parliament consists of ______________

Your answer should be: President + Lok Sabha + Rajya Sabha

Parliament

● If the Parliament of a country consists only of one house, then it is called as Unicameral Parliament. e,g, Parliament of Maldives, Sri Lanka etc. are Unicameral.

● The elections of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are conducted by the Election Commission of India and the members of Lok Sabha are directly elected by the public and their duty is to protect the interests of the public. The members of Rajya Sabha are indirectly elected and their duty is to protect the interest of their States from where they have been elected.

● The tenure of Lok Sabha is five years but its tenure is not fixed. Lok Sabha can be dissolved before the completion of its tenure. The power to dissolve Lok Sabha lies with the President. The Tenure of Lok Sabha can be extended by one year.

● The tenure of Rajya Sabha -- Rajya Sabha is a permanent house and can never be dissolved. Rajya Sabha always remains in existance.

● The tenure of a member of Lok Sabha is 5 years but their tenure is not fixed. The moment the President dissolves the Lok Sabha, the membership of its members ceases. As stated above, the President can dissolve Lok Sabha before completion of its tenure. So, tenure of Lok Sabha is 5 years but not fixed. (This 5 year tenure of Lok Sabha can be extended as well) The tenure of a member of Rajya Sabha is 6 years and the tenure of a member of Rajya Sabha is fixed because Rajya Sabha always remain in existence. Rajya Sabha can never be dissolved. However, one third of members who have completed their tenure of six years, retire after every two years and elections for the same are conducted after every two years.

● The present strength of Lok Sabha is 543 members and the maximum strength can be 550. The maximum strength of 550 has been frozen till 2026. Earlier, the President could nominate two members from Anglo Indian Community to Lok Sabha but this provision has been abolished by (104th Constitutional Amendment Act 2019) effective w.e.f. 25/1/2020. Now all the Lok Sabha members elected directly by the public.

● The present strength of Rajya Sabha is 233 + 12 = 245 and the maximum strength can be 238+12 = 250. 233 members are elected and 12 members are nominated by the President among distinguished persons in basically six fields (Law, Literature, Science & Technology, Sports, Social Work & Gandhian Thought). The Minimum age to be a member of Lok Sabha is 25 years and for Rajya Sabha is 30 years.

● The Lok Sabha members are directly elected by the public. Our country has been divided into 543 Lok Sabha Constituencies on the basis of population. One Lok Sabha member is elected from each constituency. The system of elections is known as the Single Transferable Vote System (First–past–the–post or FPTP). The maximum representation is from UP state (80 members) whereas the minimum representation is of atleast one member from each state.

List of some states with their representation in Lok Sabha.

UP - 80

PB - 13

HR - 10

RAJ - 25

BIHAR - 40

J&K - 5

LADAKH - 1

DELHI - 7

SIKKIM - 1

MIZORAM - 1 etc.

● Rajya Sabha members are indirectly elected. They are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies (Vidhan Sabha) of 28 states and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of 3 Union territories namely Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. The Rajya Sabha members are the representatives of states and their duty is to take care and protect the interests of their respective states. The states and UT’s have representation in Rajya Sabha on the basis of their population. The Maximum Representation is of the state of UP with 31 members and the minimum representation is of one seat.

List of some states and Union Territories with their representation in Rajya Sabha.

UP - 31

PB - 7

HR - 5

RAJ - 10

BIHAR - 16

J&K - 4

SIKKIM - 1

MIZORAM - 1

DELHI - 3

Puducherry - 1 etc.

● The rest of the five Union Territories have no representation in Rajya Sabha as these Union Territories have no legislative assemblies and the Rajya Sabha members are elected by the elected members of the legislative assemblies.

● The Head of Lok Sabha is known as the Speaker. The Speaker presides the proceedings of the Lok Sabha. The Speaker is a member of the Lok Sabha and is elected by the members of the Lok Sabha.

Important Questions

● The first speaker of Lok Sabha – Sh G.V. Mavlankar

● First women speaker – Smt. Meera Kumar.

● First Chairperson of Rajya Sabha – Dr. S. Radhakrishnan

If the speaker wants to resign, he gives his resignation to the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Our Vice President is the Ex.Officio head of Rajya Sabha, i.e. the chairperson of Rajya Sabha. The Chairperson of Rajya Sabha is not a member of Rajya Sabha but is the head of the Rajya Sabha. He presides the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha.

● In the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha presides the proceedings of the Lok Sabha. The Deputy Speaker is a member of the Lok Sabha but normally is not from the ruling party, rather from the opposition party. Presently this post is vacant.

● In Rajya Sabha, if the Chairperson is absent, the Vice Chairperson presides the proceedings of the House. The Vice chairperson is one of the members of the Rajya Sabha and generally not from the ruling party.

● Lok Sabha members are elected simultaneously during the general elections normally held after every five years and remain as members till the Lok Sabha is dissolved by the president. In 1951-52, the elections for first Lok Sabha were held. First Lok Sabha was officially constituted on. 17/4/1952. Art. 81 of our Constitution talk about the composition of Lok Sabha.

● Rajya Sabha was officially constituted on 3/4/1952. The last meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held on 24th Jan 1950 in which it elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first president of India. Thereafter, the Constituent Assembly was converted into the Rajya Sabha. The same Rajya Sabha has been continuing as present the Rajya Sabha. It is a permanent house and can never be dissolved.

● 1/3rd members of the Rajya Sabha retire after every 2 years after completing their tenure of six years. For example, if 1/3rd members were elected in 2010 and they retired in 2016, 1/3rd members got elected in 2012 and retired in 2018, 1/3rd member got elected in 2014 and retired in 2020. So after every two years 1/3rd members retire and elections are held to elect new 1/3rd members of the Rajya Sabha.

First Leader of opposition Lok Sabha – Ram Subhag Singh

First Leader of opposition Rajya Sabha – Shyam Nandan Mishra

Note - To be recognized as the leader of opposition of the Lok Sabha, the largest opposition party must secure at least 10% of the total seats of Lok Sabha. Congress party is the largest opposition party with 99 seats. Its leader Rahul Gandhi is the leader of opposition Lok Sabha.

Note - The JOINT SITTING of the PARLIAMENT is called by the President and is presided by the Speaker of Lok Sabha.

Note - By the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019 (126th Constitution Amendment Bill 2019), the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies has been extended for another ten years (i,e from 70 years to 80 years). Now the reservation will be available till 25/1/2030 which was ending on 25/1/2020. The 104th Constitutional Amendment Act 2019 came into force on 25/1/2020. Also by this amendment, the provision of nomination of two seats from Anglo Indian Community to Lok Sabha by President and one seats in State Legislative Assemblies by State Governors has been abolished.

NAME OF THE PARLIAMENT OF SOME COUNTRIES

1. Britain – British Parliament

Lower House – (House of Commons) – 650 members
Upper House (House of Lords) – 800 members

2. USA – Congress

Lower House (House of Representatives) – 435 members
Upper House (Senate) – 100 members

3. Pakistan – Majlis - e - Shora

Lower House (National Assembly) – 342 members
Upper House (Senate) – 104 members

4. Afganistan - National Assembly ( Wolesi Jirga )

5. Bangladesh - Jatia Sansad

6. Iran - Majlis

7. Israel -Knesset

8. Japan - Diet

9. Nepal - Rashtriya Panchayat

10. Russia - Federal Assembly (Duma)

11. Germany - Bundastag

12. Maldives - People’s Majlis

13. Srilanka - Sinhala

USA upper House (Senate) is considered as the most powerful upper house in the world whereas the British upper house (House of Lords) is considered as the weakest upper house in the world. Generally, the strength of lower house is more as compared to the upper house.

In India, both houses are almost equally powerful. On some issues like No Confidence Motion, Money Bill, Financial Bill, accountability of Union Council of Ministers to Lok Sabha, the Lok Sabha is more powerful whereas on issues like removal of vice President from his post before completion of his tenure, any transfer of a subject of state list to union list, allowing union parliament to make law on a subject of state list etc, - Rajya Sabha is more powerful.

CURRENT EVENTS

● The Present Speaker – Sh. Om Birla

● The Present Chairperson of Rajya Sabha – Sh. C.P. Radhakrishnan (Vice-President)

● The Present Vice chairperson of Rajya Sabha - Sh. Harivansh Narain from Janta Dal United Party (JDU)

● The Leader of House Lok Sabha – Ex. Officio Prime Minister – Narendra Modi

● The Leader of House Rajya Sabha – Sh. J.P. Nadda

● The Opposition Leader of Lok Sabha – Sh. Rahul Gandhi

● Opposition Leader of Rajya Sabha – Mallikarjun Kharge

● Our current Lok Sabha is the 18th Lok Sabha which was elected in 2024.

Present Nominated Members of Rajya Sabha

New Parliament Building – The New Parliament Building, built by Tata Projects Ltd., has been constructed next to the current structure during a 22-month period and have a built-up size of 64,500 square meters across four stories. The new structure would feature contributions from artists and sculptors from all around the nation, showing the diversity and elevating it to the status of a “Atmanirbhar Bharat” symbol.

NEW PARLIAMENT BUILDING SENGOL

‘Sengol’, a historical sceptre from Tamil Nadu, which was received by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to represent the transfer of power from the British and was kept in a museum in Allahabad. It was installed in the New Parliament Building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

NEW VS OLD PARLIAMENT: FACTS

This iconic structure represents the spirit of a self-reliant India (Aatmanirbhar Bharat) and was dedicated to the nation by PM Modi on the 28th of May 2023. It stands as a replacement for the old Parliament building, which was completed almost a century ago in 1927.

The decision to construct a new Parliament building as part of the Central Vista project in the national capital was driven by the need for additional space to meet the present requirements. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by PM Modi on December 10, 2020, and construction commenced in January 2021. It can accommodate. 888 Lok Sabha Members and 384 Rajya Sabha Members. It is expected that strength of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha may be enhanced in the near future.

NEW PARLIAMENT BUILDING ARCHITECT

The new Parliament House was created by Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, Planning and Management, which is managed by the architect “Bimal Patel”. The current Parliament House, a colonial-era structure, was created by British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker.

PM Modi issued a special ₹ 75 coin to commemorate the opening of the new parliament building.