Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council To Be Abolished

Table of Contents

What is a Legislative council?

A legislative council/Vidhan Parishad is the upper house of the state legislature in India.
The members are indirectly elected + nominated.
The LC is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution.
The purpose of the state legislative council is to ensure checks and balances on the elected assembly powers.
Though often, councils are accused of creating executive logjam.
A member of a legislative council is commonly referred to as an MLC.

Question ?

How many members of the legislative council are elected by graduates residing within the state?

At present (January 2020), only six states have an upper house in the legislature .These are

The Legislative Council of Jammu and Kashmir was formally abolished on 16 October 2019

Article 169(1) provides for the abolition or creation of legislative councils in states.

The Parliament Sansad can abolish a legislative council (where it already exists) or create it (where it does not exist), if the legislative assembly of the concerned state passes a resolution to that effect.

Such a specific resolution must be passed by the
State assembly – by a special majority (majority of the total membership of the assembly and a majority of not less than 2/3^rd of the members of the assembly present and voting).
Parliament – passed like an ordinary legislation by simple majority.
Note – It is not to be deemed as an amendment of the Constitution under Article 368 .
Why does Andhra Pradesh Government want to abolish the upper house of the state legislature?

On January 20, the Andhra Pradesh cabinet cleared the proposal to create three state capitals—

The Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020
The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Repeal Bill, 2020

These legislations were sent to a select committee by the TDP led Legislative council , effectively delaying them

Thus, the resolution was passed as the YSRCP government failed to get two crucial bills on its plans to have three capitals cleared by the opposition TDP-dominated upper house.
On 27^th January, 2020 , the Andhra Pradesh assembly passed a statutory resolution seeking to abolish the state legislative council.
All 133 members present in the 175-member House, voted in favour.

The ultimate power of passing an ordinary bill is vested in the assembly.
At the most, the council can detain or delay the bill for a period of four months—
3 months in the first instance.
1 month in the second instance.

Andhra Pradesh got the legislative council created in 1957 and got the same abolished in 1985.
It was again revived in 2007, after the enactment of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Act, 2005.
The legislative council of Tamil Nadu had been abolished in 1986
Punjab and West Bengal abolished their councils in 1969.

The AP assembly had just passed a bill creating an unprecedented three capitals for AP
The council referred it to a select committee rather than doing government’s bidding to immediately pass the bill.
Such a critical legislation severely impacting the state’s administration and finances merited elaborate scrutiny.
Even brute majority decisions need their checks and balances.
A legislative council, not held hostage by electoral imperatives, could even become a bulwark against today’s blatant populism .

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