Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)

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A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district (constituency) to the legislature of State government in the Indian system of government. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Each state has between seven and nine MLAs for every Member of Parliament (MP) that it has in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's bicameral parliament. There are also members in three unicameral legislatures in Union Territories: the Delhi Legislative Assembly, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Puducherry Legislative Assembly. Only a Member of the Legislative Assembly can work as a minister for more than 6 months. If a non Member of the Legislative Assembly becomes a Chief Minister or a minister, he must become an MLA within 6 months to continue in job. Only a Member of the Legislative Assembly can become Speaker of the Legislature.

Introduction

In states where there are two houses, there is a State Legislative Council, and a State Legislative Assembly. In such a case, the Legislative Council is the upper house, while the Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the state legislature.

The Governor shall not be a member of the Legislature or Parliament, shall not hold any office of profit, and shall be entitled to emoluments and allowances. (Article 158 of the Indian constitution).

The Legislative Assembly consists of not more than 500 members and not fewer than 60. The biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, has 404 members in its Assembly. States which have small populations and are small in size have a provision for having an even lesser number of members in the Legislative Assembly. Puducherry has 33 members. Mizoram and Goa have only 40 members each. Sikkim has 32. All members of the Legislative Assembly are elected on the basis of adult franchise, and one member is elected from one constituency. Until January 2020, the President had the power to nominate two Anglo Indians to the Lok Sabha and the Governor had the power to nominate one member^[1] from the Anglo Indian community as he/she deems fit, if he/she is of the opinion that they are not adequately represented in the Assembly. In January 2020, the Anglo-Indian reserved seats in the Parliament and State legislatures of India were abolished by the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019.^[2]^[3]

Qualification

The qualifications to become a member of the Legislative Assembly are largely similar to the qualifications to be a member of Parliament.

The person should be a citizen of India.
Not less than 25 years of age^[4] to be a member of the Legislative Assembly and not less than 30 years (as per Article 173 of Indian Constitution) to be a member of the Legislative Council.
No person can become a member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council of any state, unless the individual is a voter from any constituency of the state. Those who cannot become members of Parliament also cannot become members of the state legislature.
The person should not be convicted of any offence and sentenced to an imprisonment of 2 years or more.

Term

The term of the Legislative Assembly is five years. However, it may be dissolved earlier than that by the Governor on the request of the Chief Minister, when the Chief Minister has actual majority support in the Assembly. The Assembly may be dissolved earlier, if no one can prove majority support and become Chief Minister. The term of the Legislative Assembly may be extended during an emergency,^[5] but not more than six months at a time. The Legislative Council is the upper house in the State. Just like the Rajya Sabha it is a permanent House. The members of the state's upper house are selected based on the strength of each party in the lower house and by state gubernatorial nomination. The term of is six years, and a third of the members of the House retire after every two years. The upper house of a state assembly, unlike the upper house of the Parliament, can be abolished by the lower house, if it passes a specific law bill, which states to dissolve the upper house, and gets it attested in both houses of parliament and then signed by the president into law. Only Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh have their upper houses in existence with six-year term, J&K also has six-year term lower house. All other states have abolished the upper house by the above-mentioned method, as the upper house causes unnecessary problems, expenditure and issues.^[6]

Powers

The most important function of the legislature is law making. The state legislature has the power to make laws on all items on which Parliament cannot legislate. Some of these items are police, prisons, irrigation, agriculture, local governments, public health, Pilgrimage, and burial grounds. Some topics on which both Parliament and states can make laws are education, marriage and divorce, forests, and the protection of wild animals and birds.

As regards money bills, the position is the same. Bills can originate only in the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council can either pass the bill within 14 days of the date of the receipt of the Bill or suggest changes in it within 14 days. These changes may or may not be accepted by the Assembly.

The state legislature, besides making laws, has one electoral power, in electing the President of India. Elected members of the Legislative Assembly along with the elected members of Parliament are involved in this process.

Some parts of the Constitution can be amended by Parliament with the approval of half of state legislatures. Thus the state legislatures take part in the process of amendment of the Constitution.

MLAs by States

Members of Legislative Assembly by their political party (As of 21 August 2021^[update])

State/UT	Total	BJP	NDA		INC	UPA		Others		Independent	Vacant
State/UT	Total									Independent	Vacant
Andhra Pradesh	175	0		JSP (1)	0		None		YSRCP(150)	0	1
Andhra Pradesh	175	0		JSP (1)	0		None		TDP (23)	0	1
Arunachal Pradesh	60	48		NPP (4)	4		None		JDU (1), AITC (1)	2	0
Assam	126	60		AGP (9)	27		AIUDF(16)		0	1	4
				AGP (9)			BPF(3)
				UPPL (5)			CPI(M)(1)
Bihar	243	74		JDU (43)	19		RJD (75)		AIMIM (5)	1	2
				JDU (43)			CPI(2)
				HAM (4)			CPI(M)(2)
				VIP (4)			CPI(M–L)(12)
Chhattisgarh	90	14		None	70		None		JCC (4)	0	0
Chhattisgarh	90	14		None	70		None		BSP (2)	0	0
Goa	40	27		None	5		NCP (1)		MGP (1)	3	0
Goa	40	27		None	5		GFP (3)		MGP (1)	3	0
Gujarat	182	112		None	65		NCP (1)		BTP (2)	0	1
Gujarat	182	112		None	65		IND (1)		BTP (2)	0	1
Haryana	90	40		JJP (10)	31		None		HLP (1)	7	1
Himachal Pradesh	68	43		None	19		None		CPI(M)(1)	2	3
Jharkhand	81	26		AJSU (2)	18		JMM(30)		None	2	0
							RJD (1)
							NCP (1)
							CPI(ML)(1)
Karnataka	224	119		IND (2)	68		IND (1)		JD(S) (32)	0	2
Kerala	140	0		None	21		IUML (15)		CPI(M)(62)	6	0
									CPI(17)
									KC(M) (5)
									JD(S)(2)
									NCP (2)
							RMPI (1)		LJD(1)
							KC(2)		KC(B) (1)
									NSC (1)
									C(S) (1)
							KC(J) (1)		INL (1)
							KC(J) (1)		JKC (1)
Madhya Pradesh	230	125		IND (7)	95		None				3
Maharashtra	288	106		RSP (1)	43		SHS (57)		AIMIM (2)	0	1
							NCP (53)
							BVA (3)
				JSS (1)			PJP (2)		MNS (1)
							SP (2)
							SWP (1)
				IND (5)			PWPI (1)		CPI(M) (1)
				IND (5)			IND (8)		CPI(M) (1)
Manipur	60	24		NPP (4)	17		None		AITC (1)	3	7
Manipur	60	24		NPF (4)	17		None		AITC (1)	3	7
Meghalaya	60	2		NPP (21)	17		NCP (1)		KHNAM (1)	2	2
				UDP (8)
				PDF (4)
				HSPDP (2)
Mizoram	40	1		MNF (27)	5		None		ZPM (6)	0	1
Nagaland	60	12		NDPP (20)	0		None		NPF (25)	2	1
Odisha	147	22		IND (1)	9		CPI(M) (1)		BJD 113	0	1
Punjab	117	2		None	80		None		AAP(16)	0	3
									SAD(14)
									LIP (2)
Rajasthan	200	71		IND (1)	106		RLD (1)		RLP (3)	0	2
							RLD (1)		BTP (2)
							IND (12)		CPI(M) (2)
Sikkim	32	12		SKM (19)	0		None		SDF (1)	0	0
Tamil Nadu	234	4		AIADMK (66)	18		DMK(133)		0	0	0
				AIADMK (66)			VCK (4)
				PMK (5)			CPI (2)
				PMK (5)			CPI(M)(2)
Telangana	119	2		None	6		None		TRS (103)	0	1
Telangana	119	2		None	6		None		AIMIM (7)	0	1
Tripura	60	36		IPFT (7)	0		None		CPI(M) (16)	0	1
Uttar Pradesh	403	305		AD(S) (9)	7		None		SP (49)	0	8
				AD(S) (9)					BSP (18)
				IND (3)					SBSP (4)
Uttarakhand	70	56		None	10		None		0	2	2
West Bengal	294	74		None	0		None		AITC(211), GJM (T)(1)ISF (1)	0	7
Delhi	70	8		None	0		None		AAP (62)	0	0
Jammu and Kashmir	90										90
Puducherry	30	6		AINRC(10)	2		DMK (6)			6	0
Total	4123	1431	309		762	457		981		39	144

MLAS by party affiliation

S.No		MLA
1.	Bharatiya Janata Party	1432
2.	Indian National Congress	763
3.	All India Trinamool Congress	212
4.	YSR Congress Party	150
5.	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	139
6.	Biju Janata Dal	113
7.	Telangana Rashtra Samithi	103
8.	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	88
9.	Independent	81
10.	Aam Aadmi Party	78
11.	Rashtriya Janata Dal	76
12.	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	66
13.	Nationalist Congress Party	59
14.	Shiv Sena	57
15.	Samajwadi Party	51
16.	Janata Dal (United)	44
17.	Janata Dal (Secular)	34
18.	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	30
19.	Naga People's Front	29
20.	National People's Party	29
21.	Mizo National Front	27
22.	Telugu Desam Party	23
23.	Bahujan Samaj Party	22
24.	Communist Party of India	21
25.	Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party	20
26.	Sikkim Krantikari Morcha	19
27.	All India United Democratic Front	16
28.	Indian Union Muslim League	15
29.	Shiromani Akali Dal	14
30.	All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen	14
31.	Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation	13
32.	AINRC	10
33.	Vacant	141
34.	Others	134
Total		4123

References

↑ "Indian Government Structure at State Level". KKHSOU.
↑ "Anglo Indian Representation To Lok Sabha, State Assemblies Done Away; SC-ST Reservation Extended For 10 Years: Constitution (104th Amendment) Act To Come Into Force On 25th Jan". www.livelaw.in. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
↑ "Anglo Indian Members of Parliament (MPs) of India - Powers, Salary, Eligibility, Term". www.elections.in.
↑ "Election Commission of India: FAQs - Contesting for Elections". Archived from the original on 5 October 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
↑ "Postponement of elections in Kerala frustrates many politicians in the opposition". India Today. 11 April 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
↑ MLA Post Tenure

[1] "Indian Government Structure at State Level". KKHSOU.

[2] "Anglo Indian Representation To Lok Sabha, State Assemblies Done Away; SC-ST Reservation Extended For 10 Years: Constitution (104th Amendment) Act To Come Into Force On 25th Jan". www.livelaw.in. Retrieved 25 January 2020.

[3] "Anglo Indian Members of Parliament (MPs) of India - Powers, Salary, Eligibility, Term". www.elections.in.

[test-4] "Election Commission of India: FAQs - Contesting for Elections". Archived from the original on 5 October 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2010.

[5] "Postponement of elections in Kerala frustrates many politicians in the opposition". India Today. 11 April 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2021.

[6] MLA Post Tenure

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