15th August 1947, India became independent and the “Constitution of India” (BhāratīyaSaṃvidhāna) was adapted by Constituent assembly of India on 26th Nov 1949. The Constitution of India became effective on 26th Jan 1950, it was the day Dominion of India became Republic of India. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was the chairman & chief architect for “Constitution of India” - the longest written constitution. The constitution of India disseminates constitutional supremacy and not parliamentary supremacy. Parliament cannot over ride constitution.
Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body of the Indian Republic. It is a bicameral legislature, composed of President of India with two houses – Rajya Sabha /Upper House/Council of States & Lok Sabha/Lower House/House of the People.
Lok Sabha/Lower house of Parliament has currently 545 seats, which are made up by 543 elected members (Member of Parliament, Lower House – MP) through general election & 2 nominated members of Anglo Indian community by the President of India. Out of 543 seats, 84 seats are reserved for Scheduled castes & 47 seats are reserved for Scheduled tribes.
Vidhan Sabha/Legislative assembly/State assembly elections are similar to Lok Sabha/Parliamentary elections and it is conducted to elect Members for Legislative assembly (MLA). Number of seats will vary for state to state based on the population. There are 28 states & 9 union territories. The 28 states & 3 union territories (Goa, Puducherry & NCT of Delhi) have their own legislatures and the below remaining 5 union territories are governed by union government.
Rajya Sabha/Upper house has currently 245 seats (Member of Parliament, Upper House– MP) , out of which 233 seats are elected by legislatures of the states & union territories (Member of Legislative Assembly-MLA) using Single Transferrable Votes through open ballot. 12 seats can be appointed by President for their contribution to art, literature, science & social services. 1/3rd of the members retire every 2 years, especially on even number years and each member sits for 6 years. Below table contains the total number of Rajya sabha seats allotted for each states.
| Name Of State | Seats | Name Of State | Seats | Name Of State | Seats | Name Of State | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 18 | Jammu & Kashmir | 4* | Nagaland | 1 | Tripura | 1 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 1 | Jharkhand | 6 | NCT of Delhi | 3 | Uttar Pradesh | 31 |
| Assam | 7 | Karnataka | 12 | Nominated | 12 | Uttarakhand | 3 |
| Bihar | 16 | Kerala | 9 | Odisha | 10 | West Bengal | 16 |
| Chhattisgarh | 5 | Madhya Pradesh | 11 | Pondicherry | 1 | Ladakh | –* |
| Goa | 1 | Maharashtra | 19 | Punjab | 7 | ||
| Gujarat | 11 | Manipur | 1 | Rajasthan | 10 | ||
| Haryana | 5 | Meghalaya | 1 | Sikkim | 1 | ||
| Himachal Pradesh | 3 | Mizoram | 1 | Tamil Nadu | 18 |
The data file in *.CSV format can be downloaded from Rajyasabha Seats
Formula to arrive the number of votes (number of MLA support) required to become a member of Rajya sabha is euqal to
Quotient ((total number of votes÷(number of Rajya sabha seats+1))+1)
‘*’ The state of Jammu and Kashmir is divided into two separate union territories Jammu & Kashmir - with a legislature and Ladakh - without a legislature, with effective from 31st October 2019. And the number of Rajya Sabha seats will be announced soon.
Union Council of Ministers consists of senior ministers/Cabinet ministers & Junior ministers/ministers of state.
“Union Cabinet” consist of below members in descending order of rank
1. Prime minister
2. Deputy Prime minister (if any)
3. Cabinet ministers – leads the ministry
4. Minister of State/Junior Ministers (Independent Charge) – Do not &report to a cabinet minister
5. Minister of State (MoS) – deputy minister reporting to a cabinet &minister
Number of ministers in the council of ministers must not exceed 15% of Member of Parliament- Lower House. The Union Cabinet for the 17th Lok Sabha includes 24 cabinet ministers, 9 ministers of state with independent charge and 24 ministers of state.
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