State Legislature — Set 5

Correct Answer: B. Vidhan Sabha

• **Vidhan Sabha** = the State Legislative Assembly is called the Vidhan Sabha (Hindi: विधान सभा); it is the Lower House (or only House in unicameral states) of the State Legislature. • **Directly elected** — all members of the Vidhan Sabha are directly elected by registered voters in their constituencies using the First Past the Post system. • 💡 Option A (Lok Sabha) is the Lower House of Parliament, not a state legislature; Option C (Rajya Sabha) is the Upper House of Parliament; Option D (Vidhan Parishad) is the Upper House of the State Legislature — the exact opposite of the Legislative Assembly.

Correct Answer: A. Vidhan Parishad

• **Vidhan Parishad** = the State Legislative Council is called the Vidhan Parishad (Hindi: विधान परिषद); it is the Upper House of the State Legislature, present only in 6 states. • **Only 6 states** — only UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana currently have a Vidhan Parishad; all other state legislatures are unicameral. • 💡 Option B (House of Commons) is the lower house of the British Parliament — not relevant to Indian state legislature; Option C (Vidhan Sabha) is the Legislative Assembly (lower house), not the Council; Option D (House of Representatives) is the lower house of the US Congress — not an Indian term.

Correct Answer: A. 5 years

• **5 years** = the normal tenure of the State Legislative Assembly is 5 years from the date of its first sitting after a general election (Article 172). • **Can be dissolved early** — the Governor can dissolve the Assembly before its 5-year term ends; conversely, the term can be extended by Parliament during a National Emergency (one year at a time). • 💡 Option B (6 years) is the term of an individual MLC/Rajya Sabha member, not the Assembly; Option C (Permanent) describes the Legislative Council, not the Assembly; Option D (4 years) is not the constitutional tenure — 5 years is explicitly provided in Article 172.

Correct Answer: B. 6 years

• **6 years** = each member of the Legislative Council (MLC) serves a term of 6 years; this is the individual member's term, not the term of the House (which is permanent). • **1/3 retire every 2 years** — to maintain continuity, one-third of MLCs retire every two years; this staggered retirement keeps the Council functioning at all times without dissolution. • 💡 Option A (4 years) is not prescribed for any legislature member in India; Option C (5 years) is the Assembly's maximum tenure, not the MLC's individual term; Option D (Life) — no Indian legislative body has life tenure; 6 years is the correct individual MLC term.

Correct Answer: D. Governor or his appointee

• **Governor or his appointee** = the Governor, or a person appointed by the Governor, administers the oath of office to the members of the State Legislature before they take their seats. • **Pro-tem Speaker typically** — in practice, the Governor appoints a Pro-tem Speaker (usually the senior-most member) who administers the oath to all other newly elected members. • 💡 Option A (High Court Judge) administers oath to the Governor — not to legislators; Option B (Speaker) is elected by members AFTER they are sworn in — so the Speaker cannot administer the initial oath; Option C (Chief Minister) is a political functionary with no constitutional oath-administering role for legislators.

Correct Answer: B. 10 members

• **10 members minimum quorum** = the quorum for the State Legislature is 10 members or one-tenth of the total membership of the House, whichever is greater. • **Practical application** — for a 100-member house, 1/10 = 10, so the minimum is 10; for a 500-member assembly, 1/10 = 50, so quorum is 50; the '10 members' floor only applies when 1/10 is less than 10. • 💡 Option A (20 members) is not the prescribed minimum quorum; Option C (100 members) confuses the calculation — 100 is a reference point for when 1/10 equals 10, not the quorum itself; Option D (50 members) would be the quorum only for a 500-member assembly — it is not a universal fixed figure.

Correct Answer: A. Speaker of Assembly

• **Speaker of Assembly certifies** = the Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly certifies whether a bill is a Money Bill; this certification is endorsed on the bill itself. • **Final and unchallengeable** — the Speaker's certification is final and cannot be questioned in any court of law; it protects the Assembly's financial supremacy. • 💡 Option B (Finance Minister) introduces the budget and Money Bills but has no certifying authority; Option C (Chairman of Council) presides over the Council but has NO role in Money Bill certification — only the Assembly Speaker certifies; Option D (Governor) receives the certified bill and acts on it but does not issue the certification.

Correct Answer: B. At the first session of each year

• **Article 176 — first session each year** = Article 176 mandates the Governor to address the State Legislature at the commencement of the first session of each year, in addition to addressing it after each general election. • **Two mandatory occasions** — (1) after every general election to the Assembly, and (2) at the start of the first session of every year; the address outlines the government's policies and legislative agenda. • 💡 Option A (At the Budget Session every year) is incorrect because the 'first session' and 'Budget Session' are often the same but the constitutional wording says 'first session of each year,' not 'Budget Session'; Option C (At the monsoon session) and Option D (At the winter session) have no constitutional basis as mandatory address occasions.

Correct Answer: C. Speaker

• **Speaker resigns to Deputy Speaker** = the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly submits his/her resignation to the Deputy Speaker; conversely, the Deputy Speaker resigns to the Speaker. • **Mutual resignation rule** — this cross-resignation arrangement ensures each can only vacate office through the other; it prevents either from resigning under pressure from an outside authority. • 💡 Option A (Chief Minister) is the government head and has no constitutional role in accepting the Speaker's resignation; Option B (Governor) appoints the Pro-tem Speaker but does not receive the resignation of the elected Speaker; Option D (Leader of Opposition) is a parliamentary position with no authority over the Speaker's resignation.

Correct Answer: A. Sikkim

• **Sikkim — 32 seats** = Sikkim has the smallest State Legislative Assembly among all full states with only 32 seats, a constitutional exception to the general minimum of 60. • **Puducherry smaller but is a UT** — Puducherry (UT with legislature) has 30 elected seats; however, it is a Union Territory, not a full state, so Sikkim is the smallest among states. • 💡 Option B (Puducherry) has only 30 elected seats but is a UT, not a state — the question specifies 'state'; Option C (Mizoram) has 40 seats; Option D (Goa) also has 40 seats — both are larger than Sikkim's 32.