With reference to the Indian Constitution, consider the following statements regarding the State Legislature:
1. The minimum age to enter the Legislative Assembly is lower than the minimum age to enter Legislative Council.
2. Legislative Assembly is a directly elected body while Legislative Council is an indirectly elected body.
3. While the Legislative Assembly normally gets automatically dissolved at the expiration of its five-year term; the Legislative Council is not subject to dissolution.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The second statement is given as correct. How can election to the council be termed indirect when people are voting directly( teachers and graduates) though with a limited franchise? It is filled both directly and indirectly.
There are two types of elections in India - direct and indirect elections. Direct elections refer to the elections through which the members of the State legislative assemblies and the members of the Lok Sabha are elected. In these elections,all people above the age of 18 years vote directly.
Indirect elections refer to those elections through which the members of Rajya Sabha, the members of the Legislative councils, Vice President and President of India are elected. In these, it is either the people's representatives (such as MLAs and MPs) vote or certain sections of the people (based on qualifications such as graduates of three years standing and secondary school or higher level teachers of three years standing) are only allowed to participate in the voting. Thus, first there is no universal adult franchise, second it is the people's representatives that participate in these elections.
Majority (that is 66%) of the members of the Legislative Council are indirectly elected by - MLAs (1/3rd) and members of Local bodies (1/3rd). Rest of the members are either elected by the graduates and teachers or nominated (both 1/6th). Thus, we can call the legislative council as the indirectly elected body.
"The Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) forms a part of the state legislatures of India. In six of India's 28 States (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh), the Legislative Council serves as the indirectly-elected upper house of a bicameral legislature. " - This is for reference, where the Ministry of Statistics has referred to the Legislative Council as the indirectly elected upper house.
