Download Testbook App

Parliament
of India:
Functions,
Lok Sabha, UPSC Polity Notes
Rajya Sabha
and its
Composition
& its System
of Elections

About Parliament of India

• The Parliament acts as the Legislative organ of the government.
• The Article 79-122 of the Indian constitution deals with the parliament, its organisation, composition,
duration, procedures, privileges, powers, officers etc.
• These articles are mentioned in the Part V of the Indian constitution.
• The parliament consists of-
o The Lok Sabha (also known as the Lower house or House of the people).
o The Rajya Sabha (also known as the Upper house or the Council of States).
o The President.
• The leader of the majority party i.e. the Prime Minister is also the chairperson of the Parliament.

From the UPSC CSE point of view, you can read the full article below and get detailed information about
the Indian Parliament and its functions. This article will be very helpful for the UPSC aspirants as part of
their Indian Polity Preparation.
 Download Testbook App

Role of President in the Parliament

• The President is not a member of either of the houses of the parliament and does not sit in the parliament.
• No bill can be passed without the assent of the president.
• He has the power to dissolve the Lok Sabha.
• He can issue ordinances when there is no session of parliament.
• The President addresses, summons and prorogues both the houses of the parliament.

Know more about Parliamentary System in India here.

What are the functions of parliament?

The different functions of the Parliament in India has been mentioned in Chapter II of Part V of the Indian
Constitution. Here is the list of the Parliament in India and its functions under various heads and
departments:

Legislative Functions

The parliament has a major role to play in the legislative sector of the country which is as follows:

• It is the duty of the Parliament to legislate on every matter mentioned in the Union and Concurrent List.
• The Parliament also plays an important role in passing laws on the State Lists under certain circumstances
and as per certain articles such as 249, 252, and 253.
• The Parliament can enact law at any time either amending or differentiating the state legislature law.

Also read: Schedules Of Indian Constitution for UPSC here

Executive Functions

The parliament is an important part of the country as it takes control of the executive functions with several
ways:

• The Parliament can any time remove a cabinet from the power which is possible by a vote of no-
confidence.
• It can also oppose the demand in the bill of finance brought by the Government.
• The adjournment motion is an important executive function of the Parliament in which the attention is
brought to the public emergency interest.
• A Committee is appointed by the Parliament to check on the departments if they are keeping the promises
made to the Parliament.
• The ministers are responsible for every action taken by the Parliament.

Read about the Difference Between Censure Motion & No Confidence Motion here.

Financial Functions

The Parliament is the head of this department and without parliamentary approval, the Executive cannot
function. These are the financial functions of the Parliament:

Page - 2
 Download Testbook App

• The tax imposition must be approved by the Parliament

• Cabinet prepares the Union Budget which is later submitted to the Parliament for their approval.
• The Parliament plays a major role in the money bills.
• The two departments of the Parliament is appointed to keep a tab on how the money is being spent given
by the legislative to the executive which is Public Accounts Committee and Estimates Committee.

Electoral Functions

The election of the President and Vice President includes the Parliament as well. Both houses of the
Parliament get the right to vote/elect the President. It is also possible to remove a President from office if
a resolution is passed by the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha agrees to it.

Amending Powers

The Parliament has an important role to play when it comes to amending the laws of the Indian
Constitution. It is necessary to pass the amendments in both of the houses i.e, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
to make them effective.

Read about the Important Major Amendments of Indian Constitution here.

Judicial Functions

The Parliament have some major judicial powers which are as follows:

• It can remove the President from the position.

• If the President violates the Constitution of India, they can be impeached.
• The Parliament can also remove the judges of the High Court and Supreme Court.
• It can punish the members if they breach their given privileges when they are still under their oath.

Other Functions

• It has the power to increase/decrease/alter the boundaries of the states and Union Territories.
• It is also known as the miniature nation.
• The Parliament contain major information and therefore it is an important part of the country.
• All the national and international importance and issues are discussed in the Parliament before any final
decision.

Also read: Election Commission of India for UPSC here

The Lok Sabha

Composition

• Maximum strength of the members - 552.

• Out of this, 530 members are the representatives of states and 20 members are representatives of Union
Territories.
• The President nominates 2 members from the Anglo-Indian community.

Page - 3
 Download Testbook App

Representation of States

• The members are elected directly by the people from constituencies of the state.
• Any person above the age of 18 years of age is allowed to vote at such an election.
• Earlier the voting age was 21, which was reduced to 18 by the 61st constitutional amendment act.

Representation of Union Territories

• The parliament is empowered to prescribe the manner of choosing representatives of the union territories
in the Lok Sabha.
• The Union Territories Act 1965, allows direct election for members of Lok Sabha from Union Territories.

Nomination of members

• The President can nominate 2 members from the Anglo-Indian Community.

• This provision was extended till 2020 by the 95th amendment act 2009.

Duration

• It is not a permanent body and is formed for a term of 5 years.

• It can be dissolved by the president or it shall be dissolved automatically after expiry of its tenure.
• The term of Lok Sabha can be extended for 1 year in case of national emergency.

Check article on Emergency Provisions of Indian Constitution here.

The Rajya Sabha

Composition

• Maximum strength of the members - 250

• Out of these 238 members are elected indirectly and 12 are nominated by the President.
• Fourth schedule of the constitution deals with allocation of seats to states and union territories in the
Rajya Sabha.

Representation of States

• The members of the Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of State Legislative Assemblies.
• The system of election followed is in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means
of single transferable vote.
• The allocation of seats is on the basis of population.

Representation of Union Territories

• The members are elected indirectly due to absence of state legislative assemblies in the union territories.
• Proportional representation system is followed.
• Representation in Rajya Sabha is allowed only to the Union territories like Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir,
Puducherry.
• This is because the population of other UTs is very small.

Page - 4
 Download Testbook App

Also read: Difference between Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha here

Nomination of Members

• The members are nominated by the President on the basis of their knowledge in fields of art, literature,
science or social service.
• The number of nominated members does not exceed 12.

Duration

• It is a permanent body that cannot be dissolved.

• Its one third members retire every year and can be re-elected or re-nominated for any number of times.

Know more about Emergency provisions of the constitution here.

System of Elections to Lok Sabha

Territorial constituencies

• For the purpose of elections to Lok Sabha, each state is divided into territorial constituencies in such a
way that the number of population in each constituency remains more or less the same.
• The allocation of seats was readjusted after every census by the delimitation commission till 2002.
• The 42nd constitutional amendment act, restricted readjustment of seats which was further extended till
2026 by the 84th constitutional amendment act in 2001.
• The 87th amendment act 2003, allowed delimitation of constituencies on the basis of 2001 census without
altering seat allocation to states.

Read about the Population Composition of India here.

Reservation of seats for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes

• To ensure that a particular caste or community does not dominate the oppressed sections, a system of
reserved constituencies was adopted.
• The constitution provides for the reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha.
• For such seats, there are no separate electorates and everyone can cast their votes.
• This system of reservation was extended till 2020 by the 95th constitutional amendment act 2009.

First Past-The-Post System

• In this system any representative or candidate securing the maximum number of votes, or votes higher
than any other representative is declared elected.
• There is no need to win through a majority of votes.
• This method is included in the Constitution of India.
• It is also known as the Plurality System of election.

• India adopted the FPTP System because in such a large democracy there are several
Reasons to candidates contesting for elections.
adopt the • When the number of candidates increases, a candidate may never receive more than 50%
FPTP system share of votes.

Page - 5
 Download Testbook App

• To ensure the winner or elected representatives from each constituency this method was adopted, which
allows the representative to get elected if he/she has secured votes more than any other candidate.
• It is a simple method of conducting elections.
• It offers the people a choice between particular representatives.
• The representatives can be held accountable to people in the FPTP System.
• It encourages the participation of voters from different social backgrounds to win elections in a particular
locality.
• This system allows the formation of a stable government as more seats are provided to the winning
representative as compared to the share of votes received by him/her.

Check out Election Laws in India here.

System of Elections to Rajya Sabha

Types of Proportional Representation-

• Type 1- In this type, the whole country is considered as a single constituency. The seats allotted to each
party are on the basis of the share of votes secured in the national election. Eg- In Israel and the
Netherlands.
• Type 2- The whole country is divided into multiple constituencies. A list of candidates to be elected is
prepared by each political party from a constituency. Eg- In Argentina and Portugal.
• Type 3- It is a complex system of election to elect the President, Vice President, member of Rajya Sabha
and Vidhan Sabha. Eg- India.

PR in Rajya Sabha elections

• Single Transferable Vote (STV) system of Proportional Representation followed for Rajya Sabha
elections.
• Every state is assigned with a particular number of seats in Rajya Sabha.
• Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) cast votes for the Rajya Sabha elections.
• The voters rank the candidates on the basis of their preferences.
• To win, the candidate must fulfill a minimum quota of votes.
• The first preference votes for each candidate are counted.
• If anyone fails to reach the minimum quota then the candidate with the least number of votes for first
preference is eliminated.
• Then, the number of votes for second preference is counted. This process continues till a candidate fulfils
the required number of votes.

Membership of Parliament
• Person must be a citizen of India.
• The age should be at least 30 years for members of Rajya Sabha and at least 25 years for members of Lok
Sabha.
• The member must be an elector for a Parliamentary constituency.

Also read: Ordinance Making Power Of Executives In India

Page - 6
 Download Testbook App

Reason for disqualification

Under the • The person should not hold any office of profit.
constitution • The person is not a citizen of India.
• The person must not be disqualified under any law of the parliament.

• The person must not have been convicted for any offence that resulted in imprisonment
Under the for more than 2 years.
Representatio • He/She must not have been dismissed from a government service for corruption or found
n of People’s guilty of corrupt practices in the elections.
Act 1951 • He must not have been punished for practicing social crimes.

• The tenth schedule of the constitution gives the grounds of defection.

Under • The person can be disqualified from being a member of parliament if he gives up the
grounds of membership of the political party.
Defection • If the person abstains from voting in the house.
• If an independently elected member or any nominated member joins a political party.

You might like to read: Emergency Provisions of the Indian Constitution

Vacating of Seats
1. Double • A person cannot be a member of both the houses of the parliament.
membership • If a person is elected to both houses of parliament then he must intimate within 10 days
his wish to serve in a particular house or else his seat becomes vacant.
• If a person is both the member of parliament and state legislature, his seat in parliament becomes vacant if
he does not resign his previous seat within 14 days.

If the member is subjected to any disqualifications, then the seat becomes vacant.
2.
Disqualificati The member voluntarily gives up the seat by resigning. The resignation can be given to
on
3. Resignation the Speaker of Lok Sabha or to Chairman of Rajya Sabha which may or may not be
approved if it is not found voluntarily.

If the person remains absent from all the meetings for a minimum of 60 days without any
4. Absence permission, then the seat is vacated.

• If the election is declared void by the court.

5. Other cases • If the person is elected to a higher office like President, Vice-President or Governor.
• If he is expelled by the house.

Salaries and Allowances

• The salaries and allowances of members of either house, Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chairman of Rajya
Sabha are determined by the Parliament.
• There is no provision of pension and salaries are charged from the consolidated fund of India.

Page - 7
 Download Testbook App

The new Parliamentary Building and its upcoming inaugration

• The New Parliament building will be built along side the Old Parliament Building and is expected to
inaugurate in October 2022.
• The entire project is termed as the 'Central Vista Project' which will have new and separate buildings for
the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, Central Hall, Central Secretariat, Various Ministries, etc.
• The New Parliament Building will have a seating capacity of 1224 and will be built with a cost of around
Rs 970 crores.
• It will have multiple committee rooms, library, dining areas, lounge and meeting areas of the Members of
Parliament.
• It will be a four story building with a built up area of around 64500 sq km.

Recent challenges of Parliament

Frequently Abandoned Parliamentary Sessions:

• Parliamentary sessions have frequently been suspended in recent years.

• This hampers the work of Parliament. For instance, in December 2010, immediately following the
introduction of the 2G scam, activity during the then-winter season was only approximately 6 percent.
• Over the last ten years, less than 25% of the Rajya Sabha's allotted time has been used.
• During the 2021 monsoon session, the Lok Sabha was supposed to meet for 19 days, six hours a day. It
only sat for a total of 21 hours, or 21% of the anticipated period, according to the PRS.

Less inspection of legislation and public policy:

• The majority of the measures were enacted within the same session they were introduced, so they
received little to no notice.
• For instance, every piece of legislation that wasn't the 127th Constitution Amendment bill passed during
the most recent monsoon session in an average of 8 minutes.
• Furthermore, no themes pertaining to policy were covered in LS. About COVID control, there was only
one conversation in RS.
• In the same session, 18% of the 15th LS's legislation was approved.
• In the fifteenth LS, the rate reached 33 percent.

Less legislation is submitted to committees for review:

• Only 12% of the government's legislative initiatives in the current Lok Sabha have been forwarded to
committees for examination.
• This percentage varied between 7 percent in the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-2014), 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19),
and 60 percent in the 14th Lok Sabha. (2004-09).

The debate in parliament is insufficient:

• For instance, during the most recent monsoon session, all but one of the 20 articles of legislation—the
Schedule Tribes (Order) Amendment bill—passed without any LS discussion.

The hours of operation of the Parliament are being shortened:

• The amount of time the Parliament is in session each day is decreasing.

Page - 8
 Download Testbook App

• For instance, over the past ten years, the Rajya Sabha has only convened for less than 25% of the time
allocated.
• Just 33 days made up the legislative session in 2020.
• Utilizing money Bill Even though they didn't fit in this category, several important laws were still enacted
as money bills.

Negative Impacts of the above challenges

• If parliamentary committees discuss and participate less, it will be harder for the opposition to hold the
government responsible for its actions.
• Deeper discussions put an end to hasty legislation, allow legislators to identify the fundamental issue with
the laws, and give them the power to amend them in Parliament.
• There will be fewer pointless lawsuits as a result, which will mean less work for the courts.
• The legislative defects that have led to a lot of litigation and annoyance for people, courts, and other
parties have recently caused concern from the Chief Justice of India.
• Given that the Tenth Schedule was created by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1985, an MP's
exact status is no longer relevant.
• The party whip's selection is given precedence above a constituency's interests as represented by a
particular MP.
• The majority of proposals in the Parliament are passed using "voice voting" as opposed to the much more
trustworthy "division voting," which may record each member's response, including abstentions.

Conclusion
• To give MPs additional power to confront the executive branch and to give committees significant
influence over the formulation of new laws, the rules of Parliament can be altered.
• The Chief Justice of India is concerned about the lack of academics and lawyers from the house.
• Therefore, the legal industry and attorneys should broaden their horizons.
• They need to take initiative and participate in civic and social life.
• The administration may alter the standing orders for both Houses of Parliament, as stated in Article 118 of
the Indian Constitution.
• It will outline the appropriate course of action for rowdy members and direct that parliamentary
committees be informed of the measures.
• The rules and procedures of the House Review of Anti-Defection statute are described in Article 118.
• To reopen debate and debates in Parliament, the use of the whip may be restricted to only no-confidence
motions.
• The speaker's decision-making authority over the anti-defection bill can be transferred to the Indian
Election Commission.
• The government must introduce the Legislative Impact Assessment.
• Every legislative proposal must have a full examination of the social, economic, environmental, and
administrative consequences in order to increase public awareness and make future legal research easier.
• The Parliament should create a new Legislation Committee to oversee and monitor the coordination of
legislative plans.
• Like Britain, India has also has ability to create a shadow cabinet to increase the influence of the
opposition.

Testbook is a one stop solution for all your exam preparations. Be it preparing for UPSC, SSC, Banking,
Railways or any other competitive exams. You can have access to study material for different subjects
and even check your progress through our daily quizzes, mock tests, question banks etc. Stay updated with
current affairs and classroom sessions. Download the Testbook App now!

Page - 9
 Download Testbook App

Also check related Polity articles in the table below:

National Human Rights Commission Central vigilance Commission
Indian Foreign Policy National Human Rights Commission
Central Information Commission Major Amendment of the constitution

Page - 10