Question

Write briefly about the parliament and its two houses.

Answer 1

Hint: The Parliament in India’s system possesses immense powers asit is the representative of the people. Elections to the Parliament are held in a similar manner just as they are for the state legislature.

Complete answer:
The parliament refers to the legislative organ of the union government. It occupies a pre-eminent as well as a Central position in the Indian democratic political system because of the adoption of the parliamentary form of the government that is also termed as the Westminster model of government.

As per the Indian Constitution, India’s Parliament comprises three parts which are, the President, the Council of States and thirdly,the House of the People. During the year of 1954 the Hindi names Rajya Sabha as well as Lok Sabha had been adopted by the council of states and also the house of people respectively.

The President of India is not considered a member of either House of the Parliament and does not sits in the Parliament for attending its meeting which is an integral part of the parliament. This happens because a Bill which is passed by both the Houses of the parliament cannot become law without the assent of the president. The parliamentary form of government emphasises on the interdependence in between the legislative and executive organs.

The two Houses of Parliament are described below-

1.Rajya Sabha :
The Rajya Sabha which is also known as the Council of States refers to the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. Currently, it has a maximum strength of 245, of which 233 are generally elected by the state’s legislature and union territories using the single transferable votes by the means of Open Ballot while the President can appoint only 12 members for their contributions to science, art, literature, and social services. The potential seating capacity of the Rajya Sabha is a total of 250 (238 elected and 12 appointed), as per the article 80 of the Constitution of India.

Members sit for staggered terms that lasts for six years, with elections every year but approximately a third of the 233 designates up for election in every two years, particularly in even-numbered years.

2.Lok Sabha:
The Lok Sabha, or the House of the People, refers to the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by the means of an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system in order to represent their respective constituencies, and also they hold their seats for a total of five years or until the body is dissolved by the President over the advice of the council of ministers and the house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan located in New Delhi.

The maximum strength of the House allotted by the Indian Constitution is 552 (Initially, during 1950, it was 500). Presently, the house consists of 543 seats that are made up by the election of up to 543 elected members as well as at a maximum. Between the years of 1952 and 2020, 2 additional members of the Anglo-Indian community had also been nominated by the India’s President over the advice of the Government of India. The Lok Sabha has a seating capacity of a total of 550

Note: Each of these constituencies elects one person to the Parliament. Usually, the candidates who contest elections belong to different political parties. Once elected, these candidates become the Members of Parliament or MPs. These MPs together make up the Parliament, once the elections to the Parliament have taken place.