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Chapter 1: Civics: The Union Parliament — I

On the evening of 17 April 1999, the Lok Sabha ended a two-day debate and did something it does only rarely. It voted on whether the government itself should continue. The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had moved a motion of confidence. His Council of Ministers held office with the support of several parties, and one of them had withdrawn that support. The Speaker, G.M.C. Balayogi, put the motion to a division — the formal count in which every member present records a vote for or against. The result was read out to a silent House: 269 members in favour, 270 against. The motion was lost by a single vote. The government resigned the same evening, and a general election followed later that year. Notice what did not happen. No court gave a ruling. No soldiers were called out. No crowd gathered at the gates. A government with authority over the budget, the administration and the armed forces of India was ended by a count of votes inside one chamber — because the Constitution allows a Council of Ministers to stay in office only for as long as the House of the People is willing to keep it there. That is the design this chapter takes apart. Where does the authority of that chamber come from? Who may sit in it, how is its business run, and how does a proposal on paper become the law of the land?

Diagram

Fig. 1.0-1 Caption: The Lok Sabha chamber, where members of the House of the People sit facing the Speaker’s chair. Brief: Interior view of the Lok Sabha chamber. Label the Speaker’s chair, the Treasury benches and the Opposition benches, and the officials’ table below the chair. Emphasise that the two sides face each other across the floor.

NoteCuriosity Corner

Q1. Why must a government resign when it loses a vote in the Lok Sabha, even though no election has been held? Q2. Who decides whether a motion may be taken up at all, and whose word is final on such a decision? Q3. What happens to a member who votes against the party that put them up as a candidate? Q4. How many members must actually be present in the chamber before the House can pass a Bill? Q5. Why can a Money Bill begin only in the Lok Sabha, and why can the Rajya Sabha not reject one? This chapter will answer each of these questions as it goes.

1.1 The Federal Setup In India

Before we can study the Union Parliament, we need to know what kind of state it makes laws for. India is not governed from a single desk. Power is shared out, by written rule, between governments that work at different levels.

That sharing is the first design decision the Constitution took, and every later arrangement — two Houses, three lists of subjects, a court that can strike down a law — follows from it.

1.1.1 What Federalism Means

Federalism is a system of government in which power is divided by the Constitution between a central authority and the constituent units of the country, such as States. Each level governs the same citizens, but in different matters.

Its opposite is a unitary government, in which there is only one level of government and any smaller units below it are its subordinates. A unitary government can create a local body, alter it or abolish it, because the local body’s authority is only what has been lent to it.

The difference is not about size but about the source of authority. In a federal system, a State government does not draw its power from the Central government and is not its agent. Both draw their authority from the same document — the Constitution — and both are supreme within the sphere the Constitution gives them.

India adopted a federal arrangement, and then weighted it towards the Centre. Interestingly, the word ‘federation’ appears nowhere in the Constitution.

Article 1 Says: India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States; the States and their territories are set out in the First Schedule. Does: makes the Union permanent. No State may break away, and no State joined by bargain. Leaves open: it does not use the word ‘federation’, and it does not fix how far the Centre may reach into a State’s own sphere.

The Constitution originally provided for two levels of government — the Union and the States. A third level was added later, when the Constitution was amended to give Panchayats in the villages and Municipalities in the towns a guaranteed place. So a citizen of India today lives under three governments at once, each with its own field of work.

1.1.2 Federal Features Of The Indian Constitution

Several features of the Constitution are federal in the strict sense — that is, they would be impossible in a unitary state.

  1. There is a written division of legislative and administrative powers between the Union and the States, and neither may cross the limits the Constitution sets.
  2. The Constitution is supreme. Its fundamental provisions cannot be changed by one level of government acting alone.
  3. India has a bicameral legislature — a Parliament of two Houses — in which the Rajya Sabha is composed mainly of representatives of the States, so the States take part in Union law-making.
  4. Disputes between the two levels are settled by the courts, with the Supreme Court at the head of the judiciary, and not by whichever government is stronger.
  5. Sources of revenue are demarcated, and the Constitution provides for revenue to be shared between the Centre and the States, since no federal system survives if one level cannot pay for its duties.

The division of subjects is set out in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution — a schedule being a list attached at the end of the Constitution which carries detail too long for the main text. It contains three lists.

Table 1.1 — The Three Lists Of The Seventh Schedule | List | Who may make laws | The kind of subject it holds | |—|—|—| | Union List | Parliament alone | Matters needing one policy for the whole country | | State List | The State legislature alone | Matters best settled locally, within the State | | Concurrent List | Both Parliament and the State legislature | Matters of common concern to both levels |

The three lists are how the Constitution keeps two law-making bodies from tripping over each other. Each knows which field is its own, and a court can be asked to decide whether a particular law has strayed outside it.

Q. What happens if a Union law and a State law on the same Concurrent subject clash?

A. The Union law prevails, and the State law fails to the extent of the conflict.

The table shows who may legislate; it cannot show who actually does. A subject may sit on the State List and still be shaped by the Centre through money, since the government that funds a scheme usually sets its conditions. The grid also freezes a picture that has moved — subjects have been shifted between lists by amendment.

1.1.3 Unitary Features Of The Indian Constitution

The Constitution also carries features that no textbook federation would contain. Critics have long said that India is federal in form but unitary in spirit; supporters reply that a country this varied needed a Centre strong enough to hold it together.

  1. A strong Centre. On the Concurrent List the Union’s law has the overriding position, and the Union List holds the weightiest subjects.
  2. A single Constitution. The States were not given the right to frame Constitutions of their own; one document serves the Union and the States alike.
  3. Amendment by Parliament. Most provisions of the Constitution can be amended by Parliament itself, by the required majority, without the consent of the States.
  4. Single citizenship — every Indian is a citizen of India alone, and not additionally a citizen of the State in which they live. There is no separate Rajasthani or Bengali citizenship.
  5. Unequal representation in the Rajya Sabha. Seats are given to States roughly according to population, so larger States send far more members than smaller ones, unlike a federation where the units are represented equally.
  6. Union Territories. These are administrative units governed directly by the Central Government rather than by a State, and they do not enjoy the autonomy a State has. India at present has 28 States and 8 Union Territories.

Behind all of this lies one fact of history. The Indian Union was not built by independent States agreeing to pool their powers; it was made by bringing together British Indian provinces and princely states into one country at Independence. A Union formed that way is not one that any unit may leave, and the Constitution says so.

Is India Federal In Form Only? One view: powers are divided by the Constitution, and a court, not the Centre, decides who has crossed the line. Another view: one Constitution, one citizenship, an overriding Centre and directly ruled Union Territories leave the States junior partners. What would you need to know to decide?

Pick three services you use — your school, the police station in your area, the post office. Find out which level of government runs each one.

1.2 The Union Parliament

The law-making body of the Union is called Parliament. It consists of the President and two Houses — the House of the People, or Lok Sabha, and the Council of States, or Rajya Sabha.

Students usually stumble on the first name in that list. The President does not sit in either House, take part in a debate, or vote on any Bill. Yet the Constitution counts the President as a part of Parliament, and it does so for a practical reason.

Why The President Is Counted In

A Bill that both Houses have passed is still only a proposal. It becomes an Act, and therefore law, when the President assents to it. Parliament’s work is not finished without that last step, so the office that takes the step belongs to the body.

The President’s other parliamentary duties follow the same logic. The President summons each House to meet, brings a session to an end, and may dissolve the Lok Sabha. These are powers over Parliament’s calendar and its very existence, exercised on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

Q. Can Parliament be called the sovereign power in India?

A. No. Parliament makes law, but it works within the Constitution, and a court may set aside a law that breaks it.

Refer to Fig. 1.2-1 for how the three parts fit together.

Diagram

Fig. 1.2-1 Caption: Parliament is made up of the President and the two Houses. Brief: A simple structure chart. Top box: Parliament of the Union. Three boxes below it: President; Council of States (Rajya Sabha); House of the People (Lok Sabha). Label the Lok Sabha box ‘directly elected by the people’ and the Rajya Sabha box ‘mainly representatives of the States’. Show no membership figures.

The chart sets out the parts, not their weight. It cannot show that the two Houses have unequal power over money, or that the survival of a government depends on only one of them. Those differences are the substance of this chapter and the next.

A Body Of Representatives

India is a democracy of a particular kind. The people do not gather to make laws themselves. They choose representatives who make laws in their name, and who must face them again at the next election.

Each member of the Lok Sabha is elected from a constituency, a defined area of the country whose voters that member represents. Parliament’s authority to tax, to punish and to bind every citizen rests on that link, and on nothing else.

Why Two Houses

A legislature with two Houses is bicameral; one with a single House is unicameral. Several Indian States manage with one House, so a second chamber is plainly a choice and not a necessity.

The Constitution gives each House a different base. The Lok Sabha is elected directly by the people and speaks for the population as a whole. The Rajya Sabha is composed mainly of members chosen by the elected members of the State legislatures, and so brings the States into the making of Union law.

A second chamber also slows law-making down, and that is partly its purpose. A Bill passed quickly by one House must then satisfy another House, differently composed and elected at a different time.

Does A Democracy Need Two Houses? One view: a second chamber checks haste and gives the States a voice that a population-based House cannot. Another view: only one House is directly elected, so a second chamber delays the decisions of the people’s own representatives. What would you need to know to decide?

The rest of this chapter studies the Lok Sabha — its term, its membership, how its business is run, and how it makes law. The Rajya Sabha, and the powers of Parliament as a whole, are taken up in the next chapter.

1.3 The Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha is the House of the People. Its members are chosen by the voters of India directly, and no other body stands between the voter and the member.

That single fact shapes everything else about the House — the length of its life, who may sit in it, and why a government must keep its confidence.

1.3.1 Term

The normal term of the Lok Sabha is five years, counted from the date fixed for its first meeting after a general election. When the five years end, the House ceases to exist and a fresh general election is held.

The House can also be brought to an end earlier. The President may dissolve the Lok Sabha before its term expires, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister. Dissolution means the House is wound up altogether, and not merely sent home for a while.

The term can be stretched in one situation only. While a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, Parliament may extend the life of the Lok Sabha by one year at a time. Such an extension cannot continue beyond six months after the Emergency ceases, so a new House must be elected soon after normal conditions return.

Q. Why is the extension allowed only one year at a time?

A. Because Parliament must revisit the decision every year, instead of postponing an election indefinitely in one vote.

1.3.2 Composition

The Constitution fixes a ceiling rather than an exact number. The Lok Sabha may have a maximum of 550 members, of whom not more than 530 represent the States and not more than 20 represent the Union Territories.

Seats are distributed among the States broadly according to population, so a populous State sends many members and a small one sends very few. Uttar Pradesh returns 80 members to the Lok Sabha; Sikkim returns one.

Within a State, the seats are divided into territorial constituencies, and a certain number of them are reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

Members are elected by universal adult franchise — the rule that every citizen who has reached the qualifying age may vote, whatever their wealth, property, education, religion, caste or sex. In India that age is 18.

Until January 2020 the Constitution also allowed two members of the Anglo-Indian community to be nominated to the Lok Sabha by the President. That provision was not extended when its period ran out, so the House today is a wholly elected one.

Should The Age To Stand Be Higher Than The Age To Vote? One view: a voter of 18 who is trusted to choose a government should also be trusted to seek election to it. Another view: making law and questioning ministers asks for experience that a higher age is more likely to bring. What would you need to know to decide?

1.3.3 Qualifications For Membership

A person seeking election to the Lok Sabha must satisfy three conditions.

  1. He or she must be a citizen of India.
  2. He or she must be not less than 25 years of age.
  3. He or she must be registered as a voter in some parliamentary constituency of the country — a candidate need not live in the constituency being contested, but must be on the electoral roll somewhere.

Parliament may prescribe further qualifications by law, and a candidate must take an oath or affirmation before taking a seat. Notice how short this list is. The Constitution deliberately keeps the gate wide, because a House meant to represent the people would not represent them if only the rich or the educated could enter it.

1.3.4 Disqualification And Vacation Of Seats

Qualifications say who may enter. Disqualifications say who must be kept out, and they are a separate list. A person is disqualified from being chosen as, and from being, a member of either House if any of the following applies.

  1. He or she holds an office of profit under the Government of India or the government of a State — a post carrying pay or benefit from the government — other than an office that Parliament has by law exempted.
  2. He or she is of unsound mind and has been so declared by a competent court.
  3. He or she is an undischarged insolvent, that is, a person declared by a court to be unable to pay their debts and not yet released from that position.
  4. He or she is not a citizen of India, or has voluntarily taken the citizenship of a foreign State, or has acknowledged allegiance to a foreign power.
  5. He or she is disqualified by or under any law made by Parliament.

The disqualification for holding an office of profit exists to protect the independence of the member. A legislator whose income depends on the government’s pleasure is not well placed to question that government in the House.

Article 102 Says: a member is disqualified for holding an office of profit under the Union or a State, other than an office Parliament has exempted by law. Does: keeps members from drawing money or favour from the very executive they are elected to scrutinise. Leaves open: it does not define ‘office of profit’, so which posts count has had to be settled by Parliament and by the courts.

If a question arises whether a sitting member has become subject to one of these disqualifications, it is decided by the President, who acts according to the opinion of the Election Commission. A person who sits or votes in either House knowing that they are disqualified is liable to a penalty.

When A Seat Falls Vacant

A seat in either House becomes vacant in these situations.

  1. The member resigns, in writing addressed to the Speaker in the case of the Lok Sabha, or to the Chairman in the case of the Rajya Sabha, and the resignation is accepted.
  2. The member stays away from all meetings of the House for sixty days without its permission. In counting those days, periods when the House is prorogued or adjourned for more than four consecutive days are left out.
  3. The member becomes subject to a disqualification under the Constitution or under a law of Parliament.
  4. The member is elected to both Houses, or is already a member of a State legislature, and must give up one seat.

The sixty-day rule is worth pausing on. A constituency that has sent a member to Delhi is entitled to be spoken for, and a seat held by someone who never appears represents nobody at all.

Look at a voter identity card, or the electoral roll displayed at a polling station, and note what information about a voter it records.

1.4 Parliamentary Procedures

A House of over five hundred members cannot simply talk. Some formalities are needed to decide when it meets, how many must be present, who may speak, and in what order business is taken up.

These formalities are called parliamentary procedures. They look dull on the page, and they are in fact the machinery through which the House controls the government.

1.4.1 Sessions

A session is a formal period during which a House meets to conduct its business — debates, questions and the passing of laws. The President summons each House, and the House sits on the days fixed within that period.

The Constitution lays down one firm limit: six months may not pass between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next. A government cannot therefore avoid an awkward House by keeping it out of session.

In practice, Parliament normally holds three sessions in a year — the Budget session, from February to May; the Monsoon session, in July and August; and the Winter session, in November and December.

1.4.2 Quorum

The quorum is the minimum number of members who must be present in the House for it to transact business. In both Houses it is one-tenth of the total membership.

If fewer than that are present, the House cannot pass Bills or resolutions, and the presiding officer either adjourns the sitting or suspends it until enough members return. The rule sets a floor, not a target: it does not require that most members attend, only that a bare tenth be in the chamber.

Q4. How many members must actually be present in the chamber before the House can pass a Bill?

A. One-tenth of the total membership of the House. Below that there is no quorum, and the sitting is adjourned or suspended.

1.4.3 Question Hour And The Types Of Questions

The first hour of every sitting day is reserved for questions, unless the Speaker decides otherwise. It usually begins at 11 a.m. and is known as the Question Hour.

During this hour members ask the government about matters of public interest, and ministers must answer. It is the plainest form of scrutiny the House possesses, because an answer given in the House goes on the record and can be quoted back later.

Questions are addressed to the Chair, and a member must normally give ten days’ notice of a question. There are three types.

  1. Starred questions are those to which a member wants an oral answer on the floor of the House. They are marked with an asterisk, and after the minister replies, supplementary questions may be asked.
  2. Unstarred questions are answered in writing. No supplementary questions may be asked on them.
  3. Short notice questions relate to a matter of urgent importance and are asked at less than ten days’ notice. The minister concerned is asked whether a reply can be given at such short notice, and it is for the minister to accept or refuse.

The three differ mainly in how the answer is given and in how far the member can press it.

Table 1.2 — The Three Types Of Questions Compared Caption: The type of question a member chooses decides how far a minister can be pressed on the answer. | Basis | Starred | Unstarred | Short notice | |—|—|—|—| | Form of answer | Oral, on the floor of the House | Written | Oral, if the minister accepts | | Supplementary questions | Allowed after the reply | Not allowed | Allowed after the reply | | Notice needed | Ten days | Ten days | Less than ten days | Flattens: (the grid cannot show that only a few starred questions are reached in an hour, so most questions are in fact answered on paper)

Whose Hour Is Question Hour? A minister: an hour of the House’s time spent defending decisions already taken and explained. A member of the Opposition: the one hour when the government must answer in public, on a subject we choose. Both agree: whatever is said becomes part of the permanent record of the House.

1.4.4 Zero Hour

The period that begins at 12 o’clock, immediately after the Question Hour, and runs until the lunch break, is called the Zero Hour. Members use it to raise matters of public importance without prior notice and without the permission needed at other times.

Because nothing has been given notice of, the Zero Hour is often the most disorderly part of the day, with several members pressing different matters at once. The presiding officer controls the House through the charges and counter-charges that follow.

A Name Not In The Rule Book The Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha do not mention any ‘Zero Hour’. The name grew up in Parliament itself, from the hour on the clock at which the period begins, and it stuck.

1.4.5 Adjournment And Prorogation

Three different things can happen to a House, and they are easily confused.

  1. Adjournment is the suspension of a sitting by the presiding officer. It may be for a few hours, for a day, or for a longer stated period, and the same session continues afterwards.
  2. Prorogation is the termination of a session itself, and this power belongs to the President. The House still exists; it is simply not in session until summoned again.
  3. Dissolution, which you met in 1.3.1, ends the Lok Sabha altogether and is followed by a general election.

A sitting is also adjourned when the day’s business is over, when the death of a sitting or former member is announced, when there is such disorder that business cannot go on, when there is no quorum, and whenever the Speaker finds it necessary.

Adjournment sine die — a Latin phrase meaning ‘without a day’ — is the suspension of a sitting with no date fixed for the House to meet again. It is usually done when the business of the session has been completed.

The House can also set its day’s work aside deliberately. A motion is a formal proposal made by a member asking the House to take up a particular matter of public importance and give its opinion on it. An adjournment motion is a proposal to lay aside all other business and discuss a definite matter of urgent public importance — a serious accident, a natural calamity, a grave failure of administration. Because taking one up means the House drops its planned work, the Speaker decides whether it may be admitted.

1.4.6 The No-Confidence Motion

A no-confidence motion is a proposal stating that the Lok Sabha no longer has confidence in the Council of Ministers. It can be moved only in the Lok Sabha, and it is normally moved by the Opposition.

The reason it lies in that House alone is that the Council of Ministers is answerable as a body to the Lok Sabha, whose members the people elected directly. Ministers hold office only for as long as that House is willing to support them.

The House grants leave to move the motion only if at least fifty members rise in support of it. Once leave is granted, the motion must be taken up for discussion within ten days. At the end of the debate the Speaker puts it to vote, and if it is carried, the whole Council of Ministers must resign.

A confidence motion works the other way round. There the government itself asks the House to declare that it has confidence in the Council of Ministers, and losing that vote has the same consequence as losing a no-confidence motion.

A Motion Of No Confidence Fifty members support the motion → the House grants leave and debates it within ten days → the Speaker puts it to vote → if it is carried, the entire Council of Ministers resigns.

Q1. Why must a government resign when it loses a vote in the Lok Sabha, even though no election has been held?

A. Because the Council of Ministers is answerable as a body to the Lok Sabha and holds office only while that House supports it.

Find the Lok Sabha’s list of business for any one sitting day and see how much of the day is set aside before ordinary business begins.

1.5 The Anti-Defection Law

A voter in a constituency casts one vote, but is usually deciding two things at once — which person should represent the area, and which party should govern. Those two choices come apart the moment an elected member changes sides.

Defection means abandoning the political party on whose ticket a member was elected. The Constitution now attaches a heavy consequence to it.

1.5.1 Why The Law Was Made

In the decades after Independence, changes of party by sitting legislators became frequent, particularly in the States. Governments were made and unmade between elections, sometimes within weeks, without a single voter being consulted.

Two objections were raised against this. The first was that it defeated the voter’s choice, because a House elected on one balance of parties came to work on quite another. The second was that a member who could carry a government with them was a member who could be offered a great deal to move.

Parliament answered in 1985. The Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, popularly called the Anti-Defection Law, added a new Tenth Schedule to the Constitution, setting out when a member of Parliament or of a State legislature loses their seat on the ground of defection.

A Phrase From The 1960s The expression ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ entered Indian political language in the late 1960s. It described legislators who joined one side and left it again in quick succession, and it was still being used when the law was debated two decades later.

1.5.2 When A Member Is Disqualified

The Tenth Schedule treats three kinds of members differently, because they reach the House in three different ways.

  1. A member elected as the candidate of a political party is disqualified if they voluntarily give up membership of that party, or if they vote or abstain from voting in the House contrary to a direction issued by that party without its prior permission.
  2. A member elected as an independent is disqualified if they join any political party after the election.
  3. A nominated member is disqualified if they join a political party after six months from the date on which they take their seat.

The direction mentioned in the first ground is what is popularly called a whip — a written instruction from a party to its members in the House telling them how to vote on a particular question. Disobeying it is what triggers the disqualification, unless the party condones the act within fifteen days.

Notice how the second and third grounds work in the opposite direction from the first. An independent was chosen by voters who were told no party stood behind the candidate, so joining one later is treated as the same betrayal of the voter’s expectation.

Q3. What happens to a member who votes against the party that put them up as a candidate?

A. Under the Tenth Schedule the member is disqualified and loses their seat, unless the party permitted the vote in advance or condones it within fifteen days.

The question whether a member has become subject to this disqualification is decided by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, or by the Chairman in the case of the Rajya Sabha. The Tenth Schedule declares that decision final; the Supreme Court has held that it can nevertheless be examined by the courts.

The Tenth Schedule Says: a member who leaves the party they were elected for, or defies its direction on a vote, is disqualified from the House. Does: makes a seat depend on staying with the party, so a government cannot be unseated by members crossing over. Leaves open: it does not limit the whip to questions of confidence, so a member may be bound on any vote at all.

1.5.3 Splits, Mergers And Exemptions

Not every movement between parties counts as defection. The Tenth Schedule protects a merger: where the original political party merges with another, a member is not disqualified if at least two-thirds of the members of the legislature party have agreed to the merger.

The distinction being drawn is between an individual crossing the floor and a party as a whole taking a collective decision. One overturns the voter’s choice; the other changes the party the voter chose.

When the law was first made, a similar protection was given to a split, where one-third of the members formed a separate group. That one-third exemption was removed by a later amendment, in 2003, because splits of exactly the required size had proved easy to arrange.

A further exemption protects the Chair. A person elected as Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, or as Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is not disqualified for giving up party membership on taking that office, or for rejoining the party after ceasing to hold it. The reason is the subject of the next section: a presiding officer is expected to act without party attachment.

Does The Anti-Defection Law Strengthen Or Weaken A Member? One view: it protects the voter’s verdict and stops governments being bought and sold between elections. Another view: it binds a member to vote as the party directs on every question, leaving little room for conscience or for the constituency. What would you need to know to decide?

1.6 The Passing Of Bills

Making law is Parliament’s central task, and it is done through a fixed procedure. The procedure exists so that a proposal is examined more than once, by more than one set of people, before it binds the whole country.

1.6.1 What A Bill Is

A Bill is a proposal for a law placed before Parliament. It is a statute in draft, and it has no force whatever until it has been passed by both Houses and has received the assent of the President. Once that happens it becomes an Act.

A Bill may be introduced by a minister, in which case it is called a Government Bill, or by any other member, in which case it is a Private Member’s Bill. Almost all Bills that become law are Government Bills, because a government commands the majority needed to carry them.

Bills are of two kinds — Ordinary Bills and Money Bills — and the difference in how they are passed is one of the most important facts about the relationship between the two Houses.

1.6.2 The Passage Of An Ordinary Bill

An Ordinary Bill may be introduced in either House. In each House it goes through three stages, each called a reading.

  1. At the First Reading the Bill is introduced. The member in charge explains its objectives, and the Bill is circulated to members. If the House agrees to the introduction, the Bill goes forward.
  2. At the Second Reading the Bill is discussed in detail, clause by clause. Members of different parties give their views and propose changes, and the House may refer the Bill to a committee to study it closely and report back. This is the stage at which a Bill is usually altered.
  3. At the Third Reading the Bill as a whole is put to vote. If it is passed by a simple majority, it goes to the other House.

In the second House the same three stages are followed. That House may pass the Bill as it stands, pass it with amendments, or reject it.

When both Houses have passed the Bill in identical form, it goes to the President. The President may assent to it, in which case it becomes an Act. The President may also return the Bill to the Houses for reconsideration. If they pass it a second time, with or without changes, the President must then give assent.

Q. Can a Bill be sent back to Parliament twice?

A. No. The President may return an Ordinary Bill once, and must assent if the Houses pass it again.

Refer to FC 1.1 for the whole route, including what happens when the two Houses disagree.

Flowchart

FC 1.1 — How An Ordinary Bill Becomes An Act Caption: The route an Ordinary Bill takes from its introduction in one House to its assent by the President. Nodes: Introduction in House I (First Reading) → clause-by-clause discussion, committee if referred (Second Reading) → vote on the Bill as a whole (Third Reading) → sent to House II → same three readings → if House II passes it in the same form → President → assent, and the Bill becomes an Act; or President returns the Bill → Houses reconsider and pass it again → President must assent. If House II rejects the Bill, or the Houses disagree on amendments, or House II does not pass it within six months → deadlock → President summons a joint sitting of both Houses → Speaker of the Lok Sabha presides → decided by a majority of those present and voting → President → Act.

1.6.3 Deadlock And The Joint Sitting

A two-House system creates an obvious risk. If the second House refuses a Bill the first House wants, law-making could simply stop.

The Constitution provides a way out. Where one House rejects a Bill, or the two disagree over the amendments to be made, or the second House keeps the Bill for more than six months without passing it, the President may summon a joint sitting of both Houses.

At a joint sitting the members of both Houses meet together and the Bill is decided by a majority of those present and voting. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha presides.

The outcome of such a sitting is largely settled in advance by arithmetic. The Lok Sabha may have more than twice as many members as the Rajya Sabha, so on a joint vote the will of the directly elected House normally prevails.

When The Two Houses Disagree The second House rejects a Bill or holds it beyond six months → the President summons a joint sitting → both Houses vote together, the Speaker presiding → the larger House’s numbers decide the result.

1.6.4 The Passage Of A Money Bill

A Money Bill is a Bill that deals only with matters such as the imposition or abolition of a tax, the borrowing of money by the government, or the payment of money out of the funds of the Union. Whether a particular Bill is a Money Bill is decided by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, whose certificate on the point is final.

A Money Bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha, and only with the recommendation of the President. It cannot be introduced in the Rajya Sabha at all.

After the Lok Sabha passes it, the Bill goes to the Rajya Sabha, which has three restrictions on it.

  1. It cannot reject the Bill.
  2. It must return the Bill within fourteen days, with or without recommendations.
  3. Its recommendations are only advice. The Lok Sabha may accept all of them, some of them, or none.

If the Rajya Sabha does not return the Bill within fourteen days, the Bill is deemed to have been passed by both Houses in the form the Lok Sabha passed it. The Bill then goes to the President for assent. Because the Rajya Sabha cannot block a Money Bill, no joint sitting is ever needed for one.

Article 110 Says: a Bill is a Money Bill if it contains only provisions dealing with taxation, government borrowing, and money paid into or out of the funds of the Union. Does: gives the Lok Sabha the last word on money, and makes the Speaker’s certificate the test of what counts. Leaves open: the word ‘only’, which decides how much other matter a Bill may carry and still be certified.

Q5. Why can a Money Bill begin only in the Lok Sabha, and why can the Rajya Sabha not reject one?

A. Because taxation and public spending are answerable to the people who pay, and only the Lok Sabha is elected by them directly.

The rule behind all of this is older than the Constitution and simple enough: money may be taken from the people only by the House the people themselves elect. Prose describes that principle; the contrast between the two kinds of Bill shows how far it is carried.

Table 1.3 — Ordinary Bills And Money Bills Compared Caption: The two kinds of Bill differ chiefly in what the Rajya Sabha is allowed to do with them. | Basis | Ordinary Bill | Money Bill | |—|—|—| | Where it may be introduced | In either House | In the Lok Sabha only | | Whose recommendation is needed | None needed | The President’s recommendation | | What the Rajya Sabha may do | Pass it, amend it or reject it | Only recommend changes, within fourteen days | | If the Houses disagree | A joint sitting may be summoned | No joint sitting; the Lok Sabha decides | | Who certifies its character | Not applicable | The Speaker of the Lok Sabha | Flattens: (the grid shows the powers on paper, not the fact that a government with a majority in the Lok Sabha rarely faces the harder route at all)

Choose any recent Act of Parliament and find out in which House the Bill was introduced and how long it took to become law.

1.7 The Speaker Of The Lok Sabha

Every one of the procedures in this chapter needs someone to apply it. Somebody must decide whether a question is admissible, whether a motion may be moved, when a member has spoken long enough, and when the House is too disorderly to continue.

That person is the Speaker, the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha. The office carries great authority, and it is held by a member of the House who was elected from a constituency like any other.

1.7.1 Election And Term

The Speaker is elected by the members of the Lok Sabha from among themselves, soon after a newly elected House meets for the first time. No outsider can be brought in, and no other body has a say in the choice.

The Speaker holds office for the life of the House, normally five years, and may be re-elected any number of times so long as they are returned to the Lok Sabha. The office is vacated if the Speaker ceases to be a member of the House.

One detail is easy to miss and matters a great deal. When the Lok Sabha is dissolved, the Speaker does not vacate office along with the House. The Speaker continues until immediately before the first meeting of the new Lok Sabha, so the office is never empty and there is always someone able to act.

The Constitution also provides for a Deputy Speaker, elected by the House in the same way, who performs the Speaker’s duties when the office is vacant or the Speaker is absent.

The First Speaker G.V. Mavalankar was elected the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha in 1952. He had earlier presided over the Constituent Assembly when it sat as the legislature, so many of the practices the House follows today were settled in his time.

1.7.2 Removal

A Speaker may resign at any time by writing to the Deputy Speaker. The House can also remove a Speaker, and the Constitution makes the process deliberately slow.

A resolution for removal must be passed by a majority of all the then members of the Lok Sabha — that is, of its actual membership, not merely of those who happen to be present. At least fourteen days’ notice must be given of the intention to move such a resolution.

While the resolution is being considered, the Speaker does not preside over the sitting, though they remain a member and may take part in the discussion. A person cannot sit in judgement over a proposal about themselves.

Article 94 Says: a Speaker may be removed by a resolution of the Lok Sabha passed by a majority of all the then members, after fourteen days’ notice. Does: protects the Chair from being unseated in a thin House on a bad afternoon, while leaving the House the final word. Leaves open: it does not say on what grounds a Speaker may be removed, so the House itself judges what is serious enough.

1.7.3 Functions Of The Speaker

The Speaker’s work falls into a few broad groups. Refer to Fig. 1.7-1 while reading them.

Diagram

Fig. 1.7-1 Caption: The Speaker’s functions fall into five broad groups. Brief: A central labelled box reading ‘Speaker of the Lok Sabha’ with five arms radiating from it, each labelled: Business of the House; Disciplinary functions; Administrative functions; Parliamentary Committees; Other functions. Keep the arms equal in size and add no examples inside them.

The figure divides the work neatly, and real sittings are not neat. It cannot show that a single ruling from the Chair may belong to three of those arms at once, or that most of the Speaker’s authority is exercised in a few seconds of decision while the House is on its feet.

Conducting The Business Of The House
  1. The Speaker presides over the sittings of the Lok Sabha. All speeches and remarks are addressed to the Chair, and the Speaker allots the time for discussion.
  2. The Speaker interprets the rules of procedure, and the ruling given is final in all parliamentary matters.
  3. The Speaker decides whether a question, a resolution or a motion is admissible, including a motion of adjournment.
  4. The Speaker puts issues to vote and announces the result.
  5. The Speaker certifies whether a Bill is a Money Bill, and signs Bills passed by the House before they are sent to the Rajya Sabha or to the President.
  6. The Speaker presides over a joint sitting of the two Houses.

Q2. Who decides whether a motion may be taken up at all, and whose word is final on such a decision?

A. The Speaker decides the admissibility of motions, questions and resolutions, and the ruling given from the Chair is final.

Keeping Order

The Speaker maintains order in the House. Members who become unruly may be asked to withdraw, and a member who disregards the authority of the Chair may be suspended. In case of grave disorder the Speaker can adjourn the House.

Where the words used by a member are indecent or unparliamentary, the Speaker may order that they be expunged, so that they do not appear in the record of proceedings. The Speaker also decides whether a matter amounts to a breach of privilege of the House, and decides questions of disqualification on the ground of defection.

Administration And Committees

The Speaker receives the petitions and documents presented in the House, communicates its decisions to the authorities concerned, and regulates the admission of visitors and of press correspondents to the galleries.

Much of Parliament’s detailed work is done by committees of members. The Speaker is ex officio chairman of some of them, such as the Business Advisory Committee, appoints the chairpersons of the others, and issues directions to them on their working.

Impartiality And The Casting Vote

Once elected, the Speaker is expected to act without party attachment and to guard the rights of every member, including those of the smallest group in Opposition. The Speaker is not answerable to anyone but the House, and no court can examine the merits of a ruling on the conduct of its business. In the official order of precedence the Speaker ranks above Cabinet Ministers.

One rule expresses this expectation more sharply than any other. The Speaker does not vote in the House at all, except when the votes on the two sides are equal, in which case the Speaker exercises a casting vote — a single deciding vote used to break a tie. A presiding officer who voted on every question would simply be one more member of a party.

Can A Speaker Elected On A Party Ticket Be Impartial? One view: the rules make the Chair independent — no vote except a tie, no answerability outside the House, protection from the defection law. Another view: the Speaker owes the seat to a party, may seek re-election on its ticket, and can be removed by the majority that elected them. What would you need to know to decide?

1.8 Summary

  1. Federalism is a system in which power is divided by the Constitution between a central authority and constituent units, each supreme in its own sphere and each drawing authority from the same Constitution. A unitary government has only one level, with any units below it subordinate to it.

  2. India has a federal setup with a strong Centre. The word ‘federation’ is not used in the Constitution, which describes India as a Union of States.

    1. Its federal features include a written division of powers through the three lists of the Seventh Schedule, a supreme Constitution, a bicameral Parliament in which the Rajya Sabha represents the States, courts to settle disputes between the levels, and a demarcation of revenue.
    2. Its unitary features include a strong Centre with the overriding position on the Concurrent List, a single Constitution, amendment mostly by Parliament itself, single citizenship, representation in the Rajya Sabha by population rather than equally, and Union Territories governed directly by the Centre.

  3. Parliament consists of the President and two Houses — the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The President is counted in because no Bill becomes an Act without assent, and because the President summons, prorogues and can dissolve the Houses.

  4. The Lok Sabha is the House of the People, elected directly by universal adult franchise from territorial constituencies, with seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Its maximum strength is 550 — not more than 530 from the States and not more than 20 from the Union Territories.

  5. Its normal term is five years, but it may be dissolved earlier by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. During an Emergency the term may be extended by one year at a time, and not beyond six months after the Emergency ends.

  6. Qualifications and disqualifications are separate lists. A member must be a citizen of India, at least 25 years of age, and registered as a voter somewhere in the country; a person is disqualified for holding an office of profit, unsoundness of mind declared by a court, undischarged insolvency, foreign citizenship or allegiance, or under any law made by Parliament.

  7. Parliamentary procedures decide how the House works.

    1. A session is a formal period of meeting; not more than six months may pass between two sessions, and there are normally three sessions in a year.
    2. The quorum is one-tenth of the total membership, without which no business can be transacted.
    3. The Question Hour, the first hour of a sitting, is used for starred questions (oral, with supplementaries), unstarred questions (written) and short notice questions (urgent, at less than ten days’ notice).
    4. The Zero Hour begins at 12 o’clock and lets members raise matters without prior notice.
    5. Adjournment suspends a sitting, prorogation ends a session, and dissolution ends the House itself.

  8. A no-confidence motion can be moved only in the Lok Sabha, needs the support of at least fifty members for leave to be granted, and must be taken up within ten days. If it is carried, the entire Council of Ministers must resign, because it is answerable as a body to the directly elected House.

  9. The Anti-Defection Law was added as the Tenth Schedule by the Fifty-second Amendment in 1985, to stop elected members overturning the voter’s verdict by changing sides.

    1. A member is disqualified for voluntarily giving up party membership or for defying the party’s direction on a vote; an independent is disqualified for joining a party afterwards; a nominated member for joining one after six months.
    2. A merger agreed to by two-thirds of the legislature party is protected. The earlier protection for a one-third split was removed by amendment in 2003.
    3. Presiding officers who give up party membership on taking office are exempted, and the question of disqualification is decided by the Speaker or the Chairman.

  10. A Bill is a statute in draft, and becomes an Act only when both Houses have passed it and the President has assented. An Ordinary Bill may start in either House and goes through three readings in each; if the Houses deadlock, the President may summon a joint sitting, presided over by the Speaker, where the larger House’s numbers usually prevail.

  11. A Money Bill may be introduced only in the Lok Sabha, on the President’s recommendation, and only the Speaker certifies whether a Bill is one. The Rajya Sabha cannot reject it, must return it within fourteen days, and its recommendations may be refused; if it is not returned, the Bill is deemed passed. Money is thus controlled by the House the people elect directly.

  12. The Speaker is elected by the Lok Sabha from among its own members, continues in office until just before the first meeting of the new House, and can be removed only by a resolution of a majority of all the then members after fourteen days’ notice. The Speaker presides, interprets the rules, decides admissibility, certifies Money Bills, keeps order, works through committees, and votes only to break a tie.

The Idea In One Place

The Union Parliament exists to make law with the consent of the governed, and to keep the government of the day answerable between elections.

Every arrangement in this chapter serves one of those two purposes. The three readings and the second chamber slow a proposal down so it is examined properly. The Question Hour, the Zero Hour and the no-confidence motion give the House ways of forcing an answer. The Money Bill rule keeps taxation with the directly elected House, and the Speaker’s independence keeps the rules from bending towards whoever is in power.

The open question the chapter leaves is where a member’s loyalty is meant to lie. The Anti-Defection Law protects the voter’s verdict by binding members to their party’s direction — and in doing so, limits the judgement of the very representatives the voter chose.

1.9 Key Terms

  1. Adjournment — the suspension of a sitting of the House by the presiding officer, after which the same session continues.
  2. Bicameral legislature — a legislature made up of two Houses.
  3. Bill — a proposal for a law placed before Parliament; a statute in draft, which becomes an Act on being passed by both Houses and assented to by the President.
  4. Casting vote — the deciding vote used by the Speaker only when the votes on the two sides are equal.
  5. Constituency — a defined area of the country whose voters elect one member to the Lok Sabha.
  6. Defection — abandoning the political party on whose ticket a member was elected.
  7. Dissolution — the ending of the Lok Sabha itself, which is followed by a general election.
  8. Federalism — a system of government in which power is divided by the Constitution between a central authority and the constituent units of the country.
  9. Money Bill — a Bill dealing only with matters such as taxation, government borrowing, and money paid into or out of the funds of the Union.
  10. Motion — a formal proposal by a member asking the House to take up a matter of public importance and give its opinion on it.
  11. No-confidence motion — a proposal stating that the Lok Sabha no longer has confidence in the Council of Ministers.
  12. Office of profit — a post under the Union or a State government carrying pay or benefit, the holding of which disqualifies a person from membership of Parliament unless the office has been exempted by law.
  13. Parliament — the law-making body of the Union, consisting of the President and the two Houses.
  14. Prorogation — the ending of a session of Parliament by the President, without ending the House itself.
  15. Quorum — the minimum number of members who must be present for the House to transact business; one-tenth of its total membership.
  16. Session — a formal period during which a House meets to conduct its business.
  17. Single citizenship — the rule that every Indian is a citizen of India alone, and not separately a citizen of the State in which they live.
  18. Unitary government — a system with only one level of government, in which any smaller units below it are its subordinates.
  19. Universal adult franchise — the right of every citizen who has reached the qualifying age to vote, whatever their wealth, property, education, religion, caste or sex.
  20. Whip — a written direction from a political party to its members in the House, telling them how to vote on a particular question.

1.10 Points to Ponder

  1. The Constitution nowhere uses the word ‘federation’, and calls India a Union of States. Does that choice of words describe the arrangement, or argue for it?

  2. A House can pass a law with only a tenth of its members in the chamber. In what sense, then, has the House made the law?

  3. If a member can be disqualified for voting against the party’s direction, what is left of that member’s own judgement — and to whom is the member finally answerable, the party or the constituency?

  4. The Rajya Sabha may recommend changes to a Money Bill, and the Lok Sabha may ignore every one of them. What is a power to advise worth if it can always be refused?

  5. The Speaker is chosen by the majority in the House and can be removed by that same majority. Can an office be independent when the same hands give it and take it away?

  6. A no-confidence motion can end a government without a single citizen casting a vote. Is that a failure of democracy, or an example of it working?

1.11 Objective Questions

  1. The maximum strength of the Lok Sabha fixed by the Constitution is

    1. 500
    2. 530
    3. 545
    4. 550 [1 mark]

  2. A Money Bill may be introduced

    1. in either House of Parliament
    2. in the Lok Sabha only, on the recommendation of the President
    3. in the Rajya Sabha only, on the recommendation of the Speaker
    4. at a joint sitting of the two Houses [1 mark]

  3. A resolution for the removal of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha may be moved only after a notice of

    1. seven days
    2. ten days
    3. fourteen days
    4. thirty days [1 mark]

  4. Assertion (A): The Speaker of the Lok Sabha does not vote on every question put to the House. Reason (R): The Speaker is expected to preside over the House without party attachment.

    1. Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
    2. Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
      1. is true, but (R) is false
      1. is false, but (R) is true [1 mark]

  5. Assertion (A): A no-confidence motion can be moved only in the Lok Sabha. Reason (R): The Council of Ministers is answerable as a body to the House that the people elect directly.

    1. Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
    2. Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
      1. is true, but (R) is false
      1. is false, but (R) is true [1 mark]

  6. Fill in the blank: The quorum of the Lok Sabha is ______________ of the total membership of the House. [1 mark]

  7. Match the term in Column I with its meaning in Column II.

Column I Column II
a. Adjournment i. The ending of the Lok Sabha itself
b. Prorogation ii. A direction from a party telling its members how to vote
c. Dissolution iii. The suspension of a sitting by the presiding officer
d. Whip iv. The ending of a session by the President

[1 mark]

  1. State whether the following statement is true or false: An independent member of the Lok Sabha who joins a political party after being elected is disqualified under the Tenth Schedule. [1 mark]

1.12 Check Your Concepts

  1. What is meant by the quorum of a House? State what happens when there is no quorum. [2 marks]

  2. State any two qualifications a person must have to be elected to the Lok Sabha. [2 marks]

  3. Differentiate between a starred question and an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha. [3 marks]

  4. Give reasons why the President of India is counted as a part of Parliament, though the President neither sits nor votes in either House. [3 marks]

  5. Explain the difference between adjournment, prorogation and dissolution, giving one situation in which each would be used. [4 marks]

  6. Trace what happens from the moment a member seeks leave to move a no-confidence motion to the point at which a Council of Ministers resigns. [4 marks]

  7. Describe the passage of a Money Bill through Parliament, and explain what the procedure shows about the powers of the two Houses over money. [5 marks]

  8. ‘India is federal in form but unitary in spirit.’ Compare the federal features of the Constitution with its unitary features, and evaluate this claim. [6 marks]

1.13 Show Your Skills

  1. A Bill to set up a national authority is introduced in the Lok Sabha by a minister. It is discussed clause by clause, referred to a committee, and finally passed. It is then sent to the Rajya Sabha, which returns it with amendments that the Lok Sabha refuses to accept. Seven months after the Bill first reached it, the Rajya Sabha has still not passed the Bill in the form the Lok Sabha wants.
    1. Name the three stages the Bill went through in the Lok Sabha, and state what happens at the second of them.
    2. What step may now be taken to break the deadlock, and who presides when it is taken?
    3. Explain why the outcome of that step is usually decided before the debate begins. [6 marks]
  2. Study this description of a photograph. The Lok Sabha chamber is shown during a sitting. A raised chair stands at one end, with an officers’ table below it. Members are seated in curved rows on either side of a central aisle, one set of benches facing the other. Roughly a third of the seats are empty. A member is on their feet, speaking, and the officer in the chair is looking towards them.
    1. Identify the officer seated in the raised chair and state how that officer comes to hold the post.
    2. Can the House pass a Bill with the number of members shown? Give a reason for your answer.
    3. State one thing about the sitting that the photograph cannot tell you. [5 marks]
  3. A member of the Lok Sabha was elected as the candidate of a political party. On an important Bill, the party issues a direction to all its members to vote against the Bill. The member votes in favour of it instead, saying that the Bill is good for the constituency that elected them.
    1. Under which provision of the Constitution may this member be proceeded against, and who decides the question?
    2. State the consequence the member faces, and one circumstance in which no such consequence would follow.
    3. Give one argument for and one argument against a rule that binds a member to vote as the party directs. [5 marks]