The story so far:
The exchanges among political parties and their leaders, including the Prime Minister, following the election results had piqued public curiosity about Legislative Councils. The electoral college for these councils was highly restricted and elitist, granting voting rights to only a very wealthy or educated minority. They were to act as a revising chamber to review the work of Provincial Legislative Assemblies. These councils were not subject to dissolution, and the term of individual members was nine years, with one-third of members retiring every three years. Interestingly, these Legislative Councils had equal powers with the Legislative Assemblies with respect to passage of bills. The debates around constituting Legislative Councils in States were highly contested in the Constituent Assembly. Some members favoured it on the ground that it would act as a check and balance against hasty legislation by popularly elected Legislative Assemblies. Others viewed it as an unnecessary burden on the public exchequer. There were also objections to leaving out most important aspects of the constitution of Legislative Councils to ordinary legislation of Parliament without clearly specifying them in the Constitution itself. Finally, after considerable debate, the provisions with respect to Legislative Councils were adopted. However, Parliament may pass such a law only if the Legislative Assembly of the State passes a resolution to that effect by a two-thirds majority. The ministers in a State, including the Chief Minister, can be from its Legislative Council, just like ministers in the Centre can be from the Rajya Sabha. The abolition or creation of Legislative Councils in the past has been primarily driven by political considerations. G. Ramachandran was the Chief Minister. Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister. Jayalalithaa became Chief Minister. T. It argued that, given the country’s increased literacy rates, there was no longer a need for a separate electorate of graduates and teachers. Instead, all the members of the council can be elected solely by local body representatives.
Elections to 28 Legislative Council seats were held last week in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Government of India Act, 1935 introduced bicameral legislatures in six large provinces of Madras, Bombay, Bengal, the United Provinces, Bihar and Assam. If there was any disagreement, or if a bill was kept pending in the council for 12 months, the Governor may resolve such deadlock only by summoning a joint sitting of the provincial Assembly and Council. Article 169 stipulates that Parliament may by ordinary law provide for the abolition or creation of a Legislative Council in a State. For instance, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was abolished in 1986 when M. There was a resolution in the assembly to re-establish it in 2010 when M. However, before the Parliamentary law for creation could be notified, the Assembly in 2011 had passed a resolution against the revival of the council when J. Similarly, the Andhra Pradesh council was abolished in 1985 when N. Rama Rao became the Chief Minister, only to be later created again in 2007. The second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) in its report on Local Governance (2007) had proposed that Parliament may, by law, create a Legislative Council in all States as ‘Council of local governments’.
