Understanding the Lok Sabha is crucial for students preparing for upcoming exams. It serves as the cornerstone of democratic governance in India. Familiarity with its structure, functions, and role is essential for comprehending political processes, policies, and governmental operations, all of which are pertinent areas of examination. Knowledge about the Lok Sabha not only enhances students’ general awareness but also equips them with insights vital for their exam preparation, ensuring a well-rounded understanding of India’s political landscape.
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Lok Sabha
- Lok Sabha is the lower house of the Parliament of India which is temporary i.e., it can be dissolved.
- The Lok Sabha is dissolved by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
- The element of dissolution of Lok Sabha is related to the parliamentary system of government because in the parliamentary system, the executive is continuously responsible to the Lok Sabha.
- Therefore, the Executive (Council of Ministers) exists only as long as it has confidence in the Lok Sabha.
Composition of Lok Sabha
- The maximum strength of the Lok Sabha has been fixed at 552, in which 530 members are from the states, 20 members are from the Union Territories and two members are Anglo-Indians.
- Article 81(1) At present, Lok Sabha consists of 545 members of which 530 members are from the States, 13 members from the Union Territories and 2 members from the Anglo-Indian community nominated or nominated by the President (Article 331).
Election & Tenure
- The members of the Lok Sabha are elected by secret ballot by the people directly on the basis of adult suffrage (18 years).
- Some seats have been reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, there is no reservation for minorities .
- Originally the term of the Lok Sabha was 5 years, but by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, the term of the Lok Sabha was reduced to 6 years, but by the 44th Constitutional Amendment, the term of the Lok Sabha has been reduced to 5 years.
- Therefore, now the term of the Lok Sabha is 5 years, which in the emergency (Article 352), the Parliament itself can extend its term by law up to 1 year at a time.
- In 1976, the term of the Lok Sabha was extended twice for a year or so.
- On the advice of the Prime Minister, the President can dissolve the Lok Sabha even before 5 years.
- Before taking his seat in the House, a member of Parliament takes an oath before the President or a person appointed by him, no member can sit in the House without taking the oath .
Qualifications of Lok Sabha Member
He is a citizen of India.
His age should not be less than 25 years.
He should not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or the State Government.
He is not mad or bankrupt.
Not disqualified under any law of Parliament.
Powers and Functions of Lok Sabha
- Due to the adoption of parliamentary system in India, Lok Sabha was given more powers.
- India’s Lok Sabha is more powerful than the First House of Representatives in the United States but less powerful than the UK House of Representatives.
- The Executive is responsible to the Lok Sabha, the power related to finance is also with the Lok Sabha
- The motion of no confidence in the government of Parliament is expressed by the Lok Sabha as follows:
- The Council of Ministers passed a no-confidence motion of the original resolution.
- Removing the government in major policy matters.
- Removing the government in financial matters.
Financial Powers
The Lok Sabha has full control over the finances of the Union of India, passes the annual budget and approves all kinds of expenditure.
The budget and financial statements can only be presented to the Lok Sabha.
After passing in the Lok Sabha, such bills are sent to the Rajya Sabha, the Rajya Sabha has to return such bills with its recommendation within 14 days, if the Rajya Sabha does not return them within 14 days, or returns them with any recommendations which are not acceptable to the Lok Sabha, then the Lok Sabha sends those bills in the same form in which it had passed earlier to the President for assent.
On the assent of the President, this bill is considered to have been passed in both the houses.
Statutory Powers
The legislative powers of Parliament are exercised by the Lok Sabha because no law can be passed against the wishes of the Lok Sabha.
- Lok Sabha makes laws in association with Rajya Sabha on the subjects given in the Union List and Concurrent List, if the constitutional system fails in a state, then laws for that state can be introduced in the Lok Sabha.
- An ordinary bill can be introduced in either house of the Parliament, but almost all-important bills are introduced in the Lok Sabha:
- After passing the bills in the Lok Sabha, they are sent to the Rajya Sabha and after passing there, they are sent to the President for assent.
- If the Rajya Sabha does not pass the bill or does not take any action on it for six months, then the President calls a joint session of both the Houses of Parliament.
- In which the Chairman presides over the joint session, the Lok Sabha wins in such a session, but many such amendments have also been passed in the joint session which the Rajya Sabha was insisting.
Control over the Executive
The Prime Minister is called the Leader of the Lok Sabha due to being the leader of the majority party in the Lok Sabha, under the parliamentary system of government, the Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha.
- Members of Lok Sabha can ask questions regarding Ministers and their work, and the concerned minister has to reply to those questions.
- Members of the Lok Sabha can criticize the Council of Ministers and also pass a no-confidence motion against it, which leads to the resignation of the Council of Ministers.
- Most of the members in the Council of Ministers are taken from the Lok Sabha, the Lok Sabha exercises control over the executive by the following means.
- Questions: On the days of the Lok Sabha session, one hour of questions is fixed every day, members can ask any question to the ministers as per rules, the ministers have to answer these questions.
- Debate Members can criticize the policies of the executive by participating in debates on any topic and can also influence the executive.
- Calling Attention If a member of the House wants to draw the attention of the House to any important event, then he can move a calling attention motion, such motions are often presented to attract the attention of the ministers.
- Adjournment motion: If 20 members can move an adjournment motion to debate a matter of public importance, ministers are criticized during such.
- Censure motion If the Lok Sabha passes a censure motion, it is not necessary for the Council of Ministers to resign.
- If the Lok Sabha passes a no-confidence motion against the entire Council of Ministers, then the entire Council of Ministers has to resign, on November 8, 1990, Prime Minister VP Singh and in 1999 Atal ji had to resign due to getting a vote of confidence.
Election related work
The Lok Sabha elects its Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
- The Lok Sabha elects the Vice President together with the Rajya Sabha.
- The elected members of the Lok Sabha participate in the election of the President.
Miscellaneous Strengths
The Lok Sabha, along with the Rajya Sabha, accepts and revokes the emergency declaration declared by the President, the emergency declaration must be supported separately by both the Houses within 1 month.
- Under the 44th Amendment, it has been provided that if the Lok Sabha passes a motion against the proclamation of emergency, then the proclamation of emergency cannot remain in force, 10% of the members or more members of the Lok Sabha can call a meeting of the Lok Sabha to consider the rejected motion of the proclamation.
- The Lok Sabha, along with the Rajya Sabha, enacts laws to implement international agreements.
- Lok Sabha joins Rajya Sabha to include new states in the Union, changes the areas, boundaries and names of states.
- Lok Sabha can establish Joint Public Service Commission or High Courts for two or more states in association with Rajya Sabha.
Vacancies of Members of Parliament
The vacancy provisions for the seats of members are as follows:
(Article 101)
- If a person is elected a member of both the Houses of Parliament, then he will have to inform the President within 10 days that he wants to take membership of either house, otherwise his previous membership will be canceled.
- If someone is a member of Parliament and is elected to the State Legislature, if he does not resign within 14 days, his seat in Parliament will be considered vacant .
- If a member remains absent for 60 days without notice, the House concerned may declare his seat vacant.
- According to Article 101(4), days of prorogation shall not be counted during a period of 60 days, nor shall it be counted in adjournments beyond 4 days.
- According to Article 101 (3), any member can give his voluntary resignation in writing to the Speaker or Chairman.
According to the 35th Amendment Act, the Speaker/Chairman will take the final decision whether the resignation of the member is voluntary or coercive. If the resignation is forcible, the Speaker/Chairman can refuse to resign.
Disqualifications and disqualifications of members
As per Article 102 of the Constitution, the following disqualifications are:
- Someone holds an office of profit.
- On being declared bankrupt |
- Go mad and the High Court announces it.
- On acquiring citizenship of a foreign state |
- By defection on the basis of the Tenth List as per Article 102(2).
Article 103 and Controversies Under Article 102, except defection, the President shall decide after consulting the Commission and his decision shall be final.
Election related disputes
The final decision in the matter of election of a Member of Parliament will be taken by the High Court of the respective state.
- The High Court can declare any election void, but the final decision regarding the President and Vice President is taken by the Supreme Court .
Session of Parliament
The President has the power to summon, prorogue and dissolve both the Houses.
- Under Article 85(1), the President shall summon both Houses at such intervals that there shall not be a gap of more than six months between the last sitting of one session and the date appointed for the first sitting of the subsequent session.
Parliament Session
Generally, there are 3 sessions or sessions of Parliament every year, i.e. Budget Session (Summer) (February-May), Monsoon Session (July-September) and Winter Session (November-December).
- But in the case of Rajya Sabha, the budget session is divided into two sessions, there is a recess of 3 to 4 weeks between these two sessions, thus Rajya Sabha has 4 sessions in 1 year.
session
- The period between the first session of Parliament and its prorogation or dissolution is called a session.
- Long break is the time between the prorogation of Parliament and its end in a new session.
- The sitting of Parliament can be terminated by dissolution, session,
- The dissolution of Lok Sabha can take place in two ways –
- At the end of the period of 5 years,
- By the President in exercise of power under article 85(2).
Joint Meeting
- According to Article 108 of the Constitution, the President has the right to call a joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
- If a bill passed by one house is rejected by the other house.
- Both houses have finally disagreed about the amendments to be made to the bill.
- More than 6 months have elapsed without the Bill by the other House from the date of its receipt.
- Such joint sittings are presided over by the Speaker of Lok Sabha and all decisions are taken by a majority of the members present.
- Since the promulgation of the Constitution, only three joint sessions have been convened in 1961, 1978 and 2002.
Lok Sabha, Number of Lok Sabha members in States
There are two houses in the Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Lok Sabha is the lower house. According to the Constitution of India, the maximum number of members of the Lok Sabha can be up to 552. Of these, 530 members can be from the states and 20 members from the union territories. In case the Anglo-Indian community is not adequately represented in the House, the President of India can nominate two members of the community if he so desires. There are currently 545 members. The term of the Lok Sabha is 5 years, but it can also be dissolved prematurely. It is composed of representatives elected by direct election by the people on the basis of universal adult suffrage.
Number of Lok Sabha seats according to states –
Each state and union territory of India gets Lok Sabha seats on the basis of its population. It is currently based on the 1991 census. Now the number of members of the Lok Sabha will be determined in the year 2026.
| S.No. | State Name | Lok Sabha Member |
| 1 | Uttar Pradesh | 80 |
| 2 | Maharashtra | 48 |
| 3 | West Bengal | 42 |
| 4 | Bihar | 40 |
| 5 | Tamil Nadu | 39 |
| 6 | Madhya Pradesh | 29 |
| 7 | Karnataka | 28 |
| 8 | Gujarat | 26 |
| 9 | Andhra Pradesh | 25 |
| 10 | Rajasthan | 25 |
| 11 | Odisha | 21 |
| 12 | Kerala | 20 |
| 13 | Telangana | 17 |
| 14 | unequal | 14 |
| 15 | forest of bushe | 14 |
| 16 | Punjab | 13 |
| 17 | haryana | 10 |
| 18 | Chhattisgarh | 11 |
| 19 | Jammu & Kashmir | 6 |
| 20 | Uttarakhand | 5 |
| 21 | Himachal Pradesh | 4 |
| 22 | Arunachal Pradesh | 2 |
| 23 | betel-nut | 2 |
| 24 | Manipur | 2 |
| 25 | the abode of clouds | 2 |
| 26 | Tripura | 2 |
| 27 | Mizoram | 1 |
| 28 | Nagaland | 1 |
| 29 | Sikkim | 1 |
Number of Lok Sabha seats according to Union Territories –
| S.No. | Name of Union Territory | Lok Sabha Member |
| 1 | National Capital Territory of Delhi | 7 |
| 2 | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 1 |
| 3 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 1 |
| 4 | Daman and Diu | 1 |
| 5 | Chandigarh | 1 |
| 6 | Lakshadweep | 1 |
| 7 | Puducherry | 1 |
Impact of dissolution of Lok Sabha on Bills
Bills that do not lapse
- Those bills introduced in the Rajya Sabha which have not been passed by the Lok Sabha, so those which are pending in the Rajya Sabha will not lapse .
- A bill on which notice of joint sitting is issued by the President after disagreement in both Houses, such a bill also does not lapse, joint sitting takes place only in the case of ordinary bill .
- Bills passed by both Houses and sent to the President for assent .
- Pending assurances also do not lapse .
- The bill sent by the President for reconsideration is also not finished .
… The Bills which lapse …
- Passed by Lok Sabha and pending in Rajya Sabha .
- Bills pending in Lok Sabha / Bills sent by Rajya Sabha to Lok Sabha |
- Petitions (presented in Lok Sabha), which have been submitted to the Committee on Petitions .
- All other business pending in Lok Sabha such as proposed resolution, amendment seek grants .
- Rules passed by Lok Sabha (Constitutional) which have not been passed in Rajya Sabha and rules passed by Rajya Sabha pending in Lok Sabha.
Constitution Review Commission
It made suggestions for electoral reforms in its 2003 report which are as follows:
- As far as possible, a voter list without dictation should be arranged .
- Multipurpose identity card should be made mandatory for all voters .
- The Election Commission has the final power for re-voting .
- Video or other electronic surveillance devices should be used at sensitive polling stations .
- Persons who are ineligible by a court to contest elections charged with serious offences and parties who field them should be declared invalid .
- A person found guilty of heinous crimes should be disqualified from election for life.
Also Read – Differences Between Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
- Special courts should be set up for election-related disputes .
- Election and election expenditure should be limited .
- Every candidate is required to give details of his age, property.
- Even every person holding political office should furnish such details every year .
- Candidates who got less than 25% of the votes should be forfeited.