Chapter 4: The Legislature
In 1949 the Constituent Assembly of India — the body of elected members that wrote the Constitution between 1946 and 1949 — reached a question that looked technical and was not. Should the new Parliament have one chamber, or two?
The case for one was simple and powerful. A single directly elected House speaks for the people. A second chamber, elected indirectly and more slowly, can only slow that voice down. Some members argued that a country in a hurry to rebuild itself could not afford a body designed to delay.
The case for two was slower to state. India was to be a federation of states of enormously unequal size. A House built purely on population would let the largest states speak loudest and the smallest barely at all. A second chamber, elected by the members of the state legislatures, would give the states a room of their own. It would also give Parliament a place where a hasty law could be looked at twice.
The Assembly chose two. The House of the People would be elected directly by every adult citizen. The Council of States would be elected by the elected members of the state assemblies, and it would never be dissolved.
That decision — one chamber or two, speed or second thought — is the argument this chapter is about.
Diagram
Fig. 4.0-1 Caption: The choice before the Constituent Assembly in 1949. Brief: Two side-by-side options. Left: a single box labelled ‘One House — directly elected by the people’. Right: two stacked boxes labelled ‘House of the People — directly elected’ and ‘Council of States — elected by state legislatures’, joined by a bracket. A tick beside the right-hand option. Keep it schematic and uncluttered; no portraits.
4.1 The Meaning of a Legislature
4.1.1 What a Legislature Is and Does
A state is an abstraction. It has no voice of its own, and it cannot act until some human institution acts in its name. That institution is the government.
Whatever else a government does, it must do three things. It must make the rules a society lives by. It must carry them out. And it must decide disputes about what the rules mean and who has broken them.
Three organs correspond to these three tasks. The legislature is the organ of government that makes, amends and repeals the law. The executive carries the law into effect. The judiciary interprets it and tries cases arising under it.
The arrangement by which these three tasks are placed in three distinct organs is called the separation of powers. How completely they are separated differs from country to country, and much of this chapter turns on that difference.
The word ‘legislature’ is generic: it names any body that legislates, in any country. ‘Parliament’ is commonly used as a synonym, though it is also the proper name of particular institutions, such as the Parliament of India.
What Law-Making Means Here
A legislature does not merely announce rules. It formulates the will of the state in the form of law and clothes that will in legal authority, so that the rule can be enforced by courts and officials.
This is what separates a law from a wish. When Parliament passes a statute, courts must apply it, officials must implement it, and citizens are bound by it until it is repealed or struck down.
In a democracy the legislature carries a further weight. Its members are chosen by the people, so the laws it passes can claim to express the people’s own decision about how they will be governed.
That claim is the source of the legislature’s authority, and also the source of the demands made on it. A body that speaks for the people is expected to debate openly, to represent minorities as well as majorities, and to answer for what it does.
4.1.2 Unicameral and Bicameral Legislatures
Modern legislatures come in two shapes. A unicameral legislature has a single chamber, or house. A bicameral legislature has two (‘bi’ meaning two, ‘camera’ meaning chamber).
Where there are two, the directly elected chamber is usually called the lower house and the other the upper house. The labels describe the method of composition, not the importance of the chamber — in several countries the ‘lower’ house is the stronger one.
India, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Switzerland, Canada and Australia all have bicameral national legislatures. China, New Zealand, Portugal and Turkey are among the states with a single chamber.
The pattern is not random. Large states, and above all federal states, tend towards two chambers; small and unitary states more often manage with one.
Why Federations Prefer Two Chambers
Federalism is a system in which governmental power is divided by the Constitution between a central government and regional governments, each with its own sphere.
A federation faces a problem of representation that a unitary state does not. If seats are given out purely by population, the largest units dominate and the smallest are drowned out. If seats are given out equally, a citizen of a small unit counts for far more than a citizen of a large one.
Bicameralism is the standard answer. One chamber represents people, in proportion to numbers. The other represents the constituent units, on some basis other than direct popular election. Neither principle is abandoned; each is given a room.
This is why the second chamber is almost always composed differently from the first. Members of the Rajya Sabha are elected indirectly by the elected members of state legislatures. Members of the U.S. Senate are directly elected, but two per state regardless of population. Members of the Canadian Senate are appointed. Second chambers also tend to require a higher minimum age and to sit for longer terms.
The Case For And Against A Second Chamber
Three arguments are usually offered for a second chamber. It checks hasty and ill-considered legislation, since a bill must survive two sets of eyes. It gives representation to sectional, minority and specialist interests that a numbers-based House may miss. And, in a federation, it holds the balance between the centre and the units.
The objection is equally direct. If the second chamber agrees with the first, it is redundant. If it disagrees, it is obstructing a House that the voters actually elected. A body that is not directly chosen by the people, the critics say, should not be able to hold up the people’s representatives.
Notice what the disagreement really turns on. Both sides want democratic government; they differ on whether democracy means acting quickly on a majority’s decision, or making sure that decision has been tested before it becomes law.
Indian states face the same choice within their own legislatures. Every state has a Legislative Assembly; only six states — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh — also have a Legislative Council. The Constitution allows a Council to be created or abolished, on a resolution of the state’s own Assembly and an Act of Parliament.
That a second chamber can be abolished by ordinary political decision tells you something. At the state level, bicameralism in India is treated as useful rather than essential.
4.2 The Functions of a Legislature
A modern legislature does much more than pass laws. Six functions are usually distinguished: legislative, constituent, executive, judicial, electoral and financial. They are set out here in that order.
The list is worth reading as a whole before it is read in parts. Together, these functions explain why a legislature is the pivot of a democratic system, and why an executive that escapes it becomes difficult to control.
Legislative Functions
Making law is the first and defining function. In earlier societies rules came from custom, religion or royal command; in a democracy the chief source of law is a statute passed by an elected legislature.
The process is deliberately slow. A proposed law, called a bill, is introduced, printed, debated in principle, examined clause by clause, often sent to a committee, debated again and only then voted on.
Each of those stages exists to catch a different kind of error — a bad aim, a badly drafted clause, an unforeseen consequence. Speed is sacrificed on purpose.
Because only bills commanding a majority are passed, the law that emerges can claim the support of the representatives of the people. The legislature may also amend or repeal any law it has made.
Constituent Functions
The constituent function is the power to amend the Constitution itself. It is called constituent because it touches the founding document rather than ordinary law.
In India, Article 368 vests this power in Parliament, and an amendment must be passed by a special majority in each House. Some amendments, chiefly those affecting the federal structure, must also be ratified by the legislatures of half the states.
In the United States, Congress may propose an amendment by a two-thirds vote in both chambers, and it becomes part of the Constitution only when three-fourths of the states — currently 38 of 50 — ratify it.
In the United Kingdom the distinction hardly exists. There is no single written constitution, so Parliament changes constitutional and ordinary law by the same procedure.
The comparison is instructive. Where a constitution is written and rigid, the constituent function is a special and difficult power; where it is unwritten and flexible, it is simply legislation.
Executive Functions: Control Over The Executive
This is the function that most sharply divides parliamentary from presidential systems, and it deserves the closest attention.
In a parliamentary system such as India’s, the executive is drawn from the legislature and remains answerable to it. Collective responsibility means the Council of Ministers stands or falls together before the Lok Sabha: if it loses the confidence of that House, the whole ministry must resign.
That single rule is the foundation. Every other device of control is a way of exercising, threatening or preparing for it.
The Lok Sabha controls the executive through several instruments. During Question Hour, members put questions to ministers about the acts and omissions of their departments, and ministers must answer. Zero Hour, an unlisted period immediately afterwards, is used to raise urgent matters without notice.
An adjournment motion sets aside the day’s business to discuss a recent matter of urgent public importance, forcing the government to respond. A censure motion expresses the House’s disapproval of a specific policy or minister; it does not by itself require resignation.
A cut motion seeks to reduce a demand for money in the budget, and so attacks a policy through its funding. Parliamentary committees — among them the Public Accounts Committee and the Estimates Committee — examine spending and administration after the event, in detail and away from the noise of the floor.
The final instrument is the no-confidence motion. If the Lok Sabha passes it, the Council of Ministers must resign, however large its majority was on the day it took office.
In a presidential system such as that of the United States, the executive is separately elected and cannot be voted out by the legislature. Control therefore works differently, but it is not weak.
Congress holds hearings, summons officials, and appoints investigative committees to examine how departments are run. It controls the money those departments spend. The Senate confirms senior appointments and ratifies treaties, and Congress alone may declare war.
The contrast is worth naming plainly. The Indian Parliament can remove the executive but sits close to it; the U.S. Congress cannot remove the executive at will, but confronts it from a genuine distance.
Judicial Functions
Legislatures are given limited judicial powers, chiefly to hold the highest officers of the state to account when ordinary courts would be an awkward forum.
The clearest instance is impeachment, a formal proceeding by a legislature to remove a high public official for specified grave misconduct. In India, the President may be impeached for violation of the Constitution: either House may initiate the charge, the other investigates it, and a special majority in both is required.
Parliament may also pass an address to the President for the removal of a judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court, on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. Each House may punish contempt of the House.
In the United States the same function is split between the chambers. The House of Representatives brings the charge; the Senate conducts the trial, and a two-thirds vote is needed to convict and remove.
Electoral Functions
Legislatures often take part in filling other offices of state. In India, the elected members of both Houses of Parliament, together with the elected members of the state Legislative Assemblies, form the electoral college that elects the President. The Vice-President is elected by the members of both Houses.
Each House also elects its own presiding officers. The Lok Sabha chooses a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker from among its members.
In the United States the electoral role is a reserve power, used only when the ordinary machinery fails. If no candidate wins a majority in the Electoral College, the House chooses the President and the Senate the Vice-President.
Financial Functions
The oldest of all legislative claims is the claim over money. It is a settled principle of democratic government that the legislature is the custodian of the national purse.
Nothing may be taxed and nothing spent without its consent. Each year the executive must place before the legislature a budget setting out the previous year’s actual income and expenditure and the coming year’s estimates, and must obtain approval before it can spend.
The financial function is where legislative control is at its most practical. A government that cannot obtain money cannot govern, whatever its formal powers.
This is why control over finance is also the principal channel of control over administration. Reviewing accounts and refusing or reducing funds allows a legislature to reach decisions it could never have taken directly.
4.3 The Legislature in India: The Union Parliament
4.3.1 The Composition of Parliament
The Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950. The first general elections under it were held in 1951–52, and the first elected Parliament came into existence in April 1952.
Parliament consists of three parts: the President, the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and the Council of States (Rajya Sabha). The President is not a member of either House and does not sit in debate, but is a part of Parliament, and no bill becomes law without the President’s assent.
This is why Indian law-making is described as the work of the President-in-Parliament, much as British law-making is the work of the King-in-Parliament. The formula records a fact: the two Houses alone do not make law.
The composition of Parliament is shown in Fig. 4.3-1.
Diagram
Fig. 4.3-1 Caption: Parliament consists of the President and two Houses. Brief: A single top box labelled ‘Parliament’. Below it, three linked boxes: ‘President’, ‘Lok Sabha (House of the People) — directly elected’ and ‘Rajya Sabha (Council of States) — indirectly elected’. Show the President linked to both Houses. Plain schematic, no photographs.
Parliament must be summoned by the President, and the Constitution requires that no more than six months pass between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next. In practice Parliament meets in three sessions each year — the Budget session, the Monsoon session and the Winter session.
A few procedural terms recur. Adjournment suspends a sitting for a stated time; adjournment sine die ends a sitting without fixing a day for reassembly. Prorogation formally ends a session. Dissolution ends the life of the Lok Sabha itself, after which a new House is constituted by general election.
Quorum is the minimum number of members who must be present for the House to conduct business. It is one-tenth of the total membership of the House, including the presiding officer — 55 in the Lok Sabha and 25 in the Rajya Sabha.
4.3.2 The Lok Sabha
Strength And Composition
The Lok Sabha is the directly elected House. Article 81 fixes its maximum strength at 550 members: not more than 530 chosen from territorial constituencies in the states, and not more than 20 representing the Union Territories.
The present strength of the House is 543. Until 2020 the President could also nominate two members of the Anglo-Indian community; that provision lapsed with the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019.
Seats are allotted to each state so far as practicable in proportion to its population, and constituencies within a state are drawn so far as practicable to contain equal numbers of people. The fixing of the number and boundaries of constituencies, called delimitation, is carried out by a Delimitation Commission set up under an Act of Parliament.
Seats are reserved in the Lok Sabha for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Under the order made following the last delimitation exercise, 84 seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 47 for the Scheduled Tribes.
The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 provides for the reservation of one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha for women. Its implementation is tied to a fresh delimitation exercise and has therefore not yet taken effect.
Method Of Election And Qualifications
Members are elected directly by the voters on the basis of universal adult franchise, by secret ballot, using the first-past-the-post system: each constituency returns one member, and the candidate with the highest number of votes wins.
To be chosen a member of the Lok Sabha, a person must be a citizen of India, must be at least 25 years of age, and must be a registered voter in a parliamentary constituency. A person is disqualified for holding an office of profit under the Union or a state government, for being of unsound mind as declared by a competent court, for being an undischarged insolvent, for not being a citizen or having voluntarily acquired foreign citizenship, and on any ground laid down by a law of Parliament.
A member must take an oath or affirmation before taking a seat: to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, and to discharge the duties of the office faithfully. Until the oath is taken, a member may neither vote nor claim parliamentary privileges.
Tenure
The normal term of the Lok Sabha is five years from the date fixed for its first meeting. The President may dissolve it earlier.
The term may be extended while a Proclamation of Emergency under Article 352 is in operation, by law of Parliament, for not more than one year at a time — and in no case beyond six months after the Proclamation ceases to operate.
The limits are as important as the power. An emergency can postpone an election, but the Constitution puts a ceiling on how long a House may sit without facing the voters.
The Speaker
The Lok Sabha elects from among its members a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker, soon after it first meets. They normally hold office for the life of the House.
The office may end earlier in three ways: by the holder ceasing to be a member of the House; by resignation, addressed to the Deputy Speaker or the Speaker respectively; or by removal, on a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members of the House, of which at least fourteen days’ notice must be given.
The Speaker presides over sittings and maintains order, decides what business is taken up, and rules on the admissibility of motions, questions and calling-attention notices. Disciplinary powers, including the suspension of a member for grave disorder, belong to the chair.
The Speaker also decides whether a bill is a money bill, and that decision is final. This single power, examined below, does much to shape the balance between the two Houses.
The Speaker does not vote in the ordinary way, but exercises a casting vote in the event of a tie. The Speaker presides over a joint sitting of both Houses, and communicates the decisions of the House to the authorities concerned.
Powers And Functions
The Lok Sabha shares with the Rajya Sabha the general power to legislate for the Union. Most bills are introduced in the Lok Sabha, and no ordinary bill becomes law unless both Houses agree.
In finance the Lok Sabha is dominant. A money bill — a bill dealing only with matters such as the imposition of taxes, government borrowing, and the custody of and payments out of the Consolidated Fund of India — can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha, and only on the recommendation of the President.
Demands for Grants of the various ministries are made to, discussed in and voted upon only in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha discusses the budget but does not vote on the demands.
The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha alone. Only this House can remove a government by a vote of no-confidence, and the devices of executive control described in section 4.2 belong chiefly to it.
Beyond this, the Lok Sabha takes part in the constituent function under Article 368, in the election of the President and the Vice-President, in impeachment and in the removal of judges, and in the approval of a Proclamation of Emergency.
4.3.3 The Rajya Sabha
Why It Exists
The Constituent Assembly first met on 9 December 1946 and also served as the central legislature until 1950, sitting as a single chamber. Whether independent India should keep a single chamber was debated at length, and the decision, as the opening of this chapter described, was to create a second House on an altogether different basis.
The Rajya Sabha was designed as the federal chamber: a House composed by the states rather than by the national electorate, in which the units of the federation could speak as units. It was also intended as a revising chamber, and as a source of continuity, since it is never dissolved.
Strength And Composition
Article 80 fixes the maximum strength of the Rajya Sabha at 250: not more than 238 representatives of the states and Union Territories, and 12 members nominated by the President.
The nominated members are persons with special knowledge or practical experience of literature, science, art or social service. The present strength is 245 — 233 elected members and 12 nominated.
Seats are allotted to the states in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution, roughly according to population, so that larger states have more members. Only some Union Territories are represented in the House.
Method Of Election
Representatives of a state are elected by the elected members of that state’s Legislative Assembly, by proportional representation using the single transferable vote. Voters rank the candidates in order of preference, and a candidate is elected on reaching a fixed quota of votes.
The election is therefore indirect: the citizen elects the Member of the Legislative Assembly, and the Member of the Legislative Assembly elects the member of the Rajya Sabha. Because seats within a state are filled proportionally, smaller parties in a state assembly can win representation that the first-past-the-post system would deny them.
Qualifications And Tenure
A member of the Rajya Sabha must be a citizen of India, must be at least 30 years of age, and must take the prescribed oath or affirmation. The disqualifications are those that apply to either House.
The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body and is never dissolved. One-third of its members retire every second year, and each member serves a term of six years. A retiring member may be re-elected or renominated any number of times.
Permanence has a purpose. However complete a victory in a general election may be, it changes only part of the second House, so a sudden shift in national mood cannot remake the whole of Parliament at once.
The Chairman
The Vice-President of India is the ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the phrase meaning that the office is held by virtue of holding another office. The House also elects a Deputy Chairman from among its members.
The Chairman is not a member of the House and has no ordinary vote, but exercises a casting vote in the case of a tie. When a resolution for the Chairman’s own removal is under consideration, the Chairman may not preside.
Powers And Functions
In ordinary legislation the two Houses stand on equal footing. An ordinary bill may be introduced in either House and cannot become law unless both pass it.
In financial matters the Rajya Sabha is weak. A money bill goes to it only after the Lok Sabha has passed it. The Rajya Sabha must return the bill within fourteen days and may only recommend changes, which the Lok Sabha is free to accept or reject; if it is not returned within fourteen days, the bill is deemed passed by both Houses.
The Rajya Sabha cannot remove a ministry, but it can question ministers, criticise policy and move adjournment motions. It shares equally in the constituent power, in impeachment and in the removal of judges, and its members take part in electing the President; the Vice-President is elected by the members of both Houses.
Special Powers
Two powers belong to the Rajya Sabha alone, and both flow from its character as the House of the states.
The first concerns the division of subjects between the Union and the states. Parliament may not ordinarily legislate on a subject in the State List. But if the Rajya Sabha declares by a resolution, supported by two-thirds of the members present and voting, that it is necessary in the national interest, Parliament may legislate on that subject for as long as the resolution remains in force.
The second is the power to create All India Services. By a similar two-thirds resolution, the Rajya Sabha may declare it necessary in the national interest to create one or more services common to the Union and the states, after which Parliament may create them by law.
A resolution for the removal of the Vice-President may also be initiated only in the Rajya Sabha. And where a Proclamation of Emergency is issued while the Lok Sabha stands dissolved, approval by the Rajya Sabha keeps the Proclamation alive until the newly constituted Lok Sabha can consider it.
4.3.4 The Relative Position of the Two Houses
The two Houses are equal in some things and unequal in others, and the pattern is not accidental.
They are equal where the Constitution itself is at stake: a constitutional amendment must pass both Houses by the required special majority, and neither can be overridden. They are equal in impeachment, in the removal of judges, and in the general power to legislate.
They are unequal wherever the survival of the government is involved. The Council of Ministers answers to the Lok Sabha alone; money bills originate there and can be effectively decided there; demands for grants are voted only there.
There is one further advantage. If the two Houses disagree over an ordinary bill, the President may summon a joint sitting of both Houses under Article 108, at which the matter is decided by a majority of those present and voting, with the Speaker presiding. Because the Lok Sabha has more than twice as many members, it ordinarily prevails.
The mechanism does not extend to money bills, for which the Rajya Sabha’s power is already limited, or to constitutional amendment bills, where the agreement of both Houses is essential.
The full path of a bill is set out in FC 4.1.
Flowchart
FC 4.1 — How An Ordinary Bill Becomes An Act In India Caption: The route an ordinary bill takes through Parliament, including what happens when the two Houses disagree. Nodes: Bill introduced in either House (first reading) → general discussion, clause-by-clause consideration, often committee scrutiny (second reading) → bill passed by that House (third reading) → transmitted to the other House → [if the second House passes it unchanged] sent to the President → [if the second House amends it] returned to the first House, which may accept or reject the amendments → [if disagreement persists, or the bill is rejected, or more than six months pass] the President may summon a joint sitting under Article 108, presided over by the Speaker, decided by a majority of those present and voting → the bill as passed is sent to the President → [President assents] the bill becomes an Act → [President returns the bill for reconsideration] if both Houses pass it again, the President must assent.
Joint sittings are rare. Parliament has held only three since 1950, which tells us that the two Houses usually find agreement without them.
That is the settlement in one line. The Rajya Sabha can compel Parliament to think again; it cannot, in the end, compel it to think differently.
4.4 The Legislature in the United States: Congress
4.4.1 The Bicameral Structure of Congress
The legislative branch of the United States is the Congress, established by Article I of the Constitution of 1787. It consists of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Congress is the central law-making authority of the federal government. It also represents both the citizens and the states, oversees the executive branch, and controls federal money.
The two-chamber design was not a matter of theory. It was the settlement of a quarrel that nearly ended the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
The larger states supported the Virginia Plan, under which representation in the legislature would follow population. The smaller states supported the New Jersey Plan, under which every state would be represented equally, whatever its size.
The quarrel was settled by what is known as the Great Compromise, or the Connecticut Compromise. One chamber would be apportioned by population; the other would give each state an equal voice.
The House of Representatives therefore represents the American people, with more populous states electing more members. The Senate represents the states as states, each electing two Senators regardless of size.
The consequence runs through American government. A federal law must be acceptable both to a national majority, expressed through the House, and to the federal structure of states, expressed through the Senate.
4.4.2 The House of Representatives
Strength And Composition
The House of Representatives is the directly elected, more populous chamber. It has 435 voting members, a number fixed by the Reapportionment Act of 1929 rather than by the Constitution.
Seats are distributed among the fifty states according to population. After each decennial census, seats are reapportioned: states whose share of the population has grown may gain seats, and states whose share has fallen may lose them.
Each state is then divided into single-member districts of roughly equal population, one member being elected from each. Drawing these district boundaries, called redistricting, is normally done by the state legislatures themselves.
Because the boundaries are drawn by politicians, they can be drawn to favour a party — a practice named gerrymandering, after Elbridge Gerry, a Governor of Massachusetts who in 1812 approved a district map so contorted that one district was said to resemble a salamander.
Method Of Election, Qualifications And Tenure
Members are elected directly by the voters of the district on a plurality basis: the candidate with the highest number of votes wins, whether or not that is a majority. The right to vote extends to all citizens aged eighteen and over, the age having been lowered from twenty-one by the Twenty-sixth Amendment in 1971.
To be eligible, a candidate must have been a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, must be at least twenty-five years of age, and must be an inhabitant of the state from which they are elected.
Members serve a fixed term of two years, and there is no limit on the number of terms. The whole House therefore faces the voters every two years, and — unlike the Lok Sabha — it cannot be dissolved early.
The two-year term is the House’s defining feature. It keeps the chamber close to public opinion, and it means that a member is never far from the next campaign.
Powers And Functions
The House shares equally with the Senate in ordinary law-making. A bill must pass both chambers in identical form before it goes to the President.
Its distinctive power is over revenue. The Constitution requires that bills for raising revenue begin in the House, giving it the first word on taxation.
Read the clause carefully, because the second half undoes much of the first. The House alone may begin a revenue bill — but the Senate may amend it as freely as any other bill, and in practice often rewrites it.
The clause also cannot tell us how the two chambers actually behave. It records where a bill must start, not who shapes it, and the answer to that depends on the politics of a particular Congress rather than on the text.
The House also holds the sole power to impeach federal officials, including the President — that is, to bring the formal charge. It participates in oversight through committees, in the passage of the federal budget and appropriations, and in proposing constitutional amendments.
One further power is held in reserve. If no candidate wins a majority of the Electoral College, the House chooses the President from among the leading candidates, with each state delegation casting a single vote.
4.4.3 The Senate
Strength And Composition
The Senate has 100 members: two from each of the fifty states, regardless of population. Its size does not change with population, so a small state such as Delaware has exactly the same weight in the chamber as California.
This equality is entrenched more deeply than any other rule in the American Constitution. Article V provides that no state may be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate without its own consent.
Method Of Election, Qualifications And Tenure
Senators were originally chosen by the state legislatures, which fitted the idea of the Senate as a chamber of the states. The Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, replaced this with direct election by the voters of each state.
A candidate must have been a citizen of the United States for at least nine years, must be at least thirty years of age, and must be an inhabitant of the state represented. The requirements are stiffer than for the House at every point.
Senators serve six-year terms, with no limit on the number of terms. The Senate is a continuing body: its members are divided into three classes, and only one-third face election every two years, so the chamber is never renewed all at once.
The comparison with India is close here. Both the Rajya Sabha and the Senate use six-year terms and staggered renewal by thirds to make the second chamber permanent, though India elects indirectly and the United States directly.
Powers And Functions
In law-making the Senate is the equal of the House. No federal statute can be enacted without it, and it may amend any bill, including revenue bills.
Three powers belong to the Senate alone. It confirms the President’s appointments to the Cabinet, to ambassadorships and to the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court, by a majority vote. It ratifies treaties negotiated by the President, by a two-thirds vote of the Senators present. And it conducts the trial of officials impeached by the House, a two-thirds vote being required to convict and remove; where a President is on trial, the Chief Justice of the United States presides.
The Senate has one further peculiarity of procedure. Debate is not ordinarily limited, so a Senator may hold the floor to delay a vote — a tactic called the filibuster. Debate can be closed only by a cloture motion, which requires sixty votes; the requirement has been reduced to a simple majority for confirming nominations, but not for legislation.
The filibuster is defended as a protection for deliberation and for the minority, and criticised as a device that lets a minority block what a majority supports. Both descriptions are accurate; which one matters more depends on how urgent the legislation is thought to be.
4.4.4 Why the Senate Is the World’s Most Powerful Second Chamber
Second chambers in most countries are weaker than the first. The British House of Lords can delay legislation but not finally block it. The Rajya Sabha may recommend on money bills but not decide them, and can be outvoted at a joint sitting.
The American Senate is different in five ways, and it is the combination rather than any one of them that gives it its standing.
First, it is fully equal in legislation. No federal law exists without Senate approval, and there is no joint sitting or override by which the House can prevail over it.
Second, it holds exclusive powers that no other chamber shares — the confirmation of senior appointments and the ratification of treaties. These give it a permanent role in foreign policy, in defence and in the composition of the judiciary.
Third, it alone tries impeachments, and so has the final word on the removal of a President, a Vice-President or a federal judge.
Fourth, it can amend, delay or reject any bill the House sends it, including revenue bills, and its rules of unlimited debate give a determined minority within it real leverage.
Fifth, its six-year staggered terms and its small size produce experience, continuity and sustained attention that a chamber facing election every two years cannot easily match.
4.5 A Comparative Study of the Two Legislatures
Both India and the United States are federations with two-chamber national legislatures. Both have a directly elected House built on population and a second chamber built on the states.
The similarity ends there, and the differences all trace back to one thing. India has a parliamentary executive that sits inside the legislature and answers to it; the United States has a presidential executive elected separately and answerable to the voters.
Once that difference is fixed, the rest follows. A parliamentary system must have one House in which the government’s majority is decisive, which is why the Lok Sabha is stronger than the Rajya Sabha. A presidential system has no such need, which is why the two American chambers can be equals.
4.5.1 The Rajya Sabha and the U.S. Senate
Both are second chambers, both are permanent bodies renewed by thirds, and both give members six-year terms. Beyond that they are built on different principles.
The Rajya Sabha is composed indirectly. Its members are chosen by the elected members of the state assemblies, and seats are allotted to states roughly according to population, so Uttar Pradesh sends far more members than Sikkim.
The Senate is composed directly but equally. Its members are chosen by the voters of the state, and every state sends exactly two.
The difference in powers is sharper still. The Rajya Sabha can be overridden at a joint sitting and cannot decide a money bill; the Senate cannot be overridden at all and can rewrite a revenue bill. The Senate confirms appointments and ratifies treaties; the Rajya Sabha does neither.
Against this, the Rajya Sabha holds powers the Senate has no equivalent of. It alone can permit Parliament to legislate on a State List subject, and it alone can call for the creation of an All India Service.
The last row is the one to hold on to. Every other difference is a difference of degree; the absence of any override is a difference of kind.
4.5.2 The Lok Sabha and the U.S. House of Representatives
The two first chambers are more alike. Both are directly elected by universal adult franchise, both use single-member constituencies decided on a first-past-the-post basis, and both elect their own Speaker.
They differ in three ways that matter. The Lok Sabha has 543 members to the House’s 435, because it represents a much larger population. The Lok Sabha sits for five years, the House for two. And the Lok Sabha may be dissolved before its term ends, whereas the House cannot be dissolved at all.
The deepest difference is again about the executive. The Lok Sabha can remove the Council of Ministers by a vote of no-confidence; the House of Representatives can investigate, refuse money and impeach, but it cannot vote the President out of office.
Notice what a comparison of this kind can and cannot do. It sets out where authority formally lies, which is exactly what a student needs to hold in mind before going further.
What it cannot show is how that authority behaves. A chamber’s real weight depends on party strength, on the size of the government’s majority, and on whether the same party controls both chambers — none of which appears in any column.
4.6 Summary
Every government must make, execute and adjudicate law. The three organs answering to these tasks are the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, and the arrangement is called the separation of powers.
The legislature is the organ that makes, amends and repeals law. In a democracy its authority rests on election: the laws it passes can claim to be the people’s own decision about how they will be governed.
A legislature is unicameral if it has one chamber and bicameral if it has two. Large states, and above all federations, tend towards two chambers, because a purely population-based House lets the largest units dominate the smallest.
Three reasons are given for a second chamber: it checks hasty legislation, it represents sectional and minority interests, and in a federation it gives the constituent units a voice. The standing objection is that an indirectly chosen House should not delay a directly elected one.
Six functions are distinguished: legislative, constituent, executive, judicial, electoral and financial. Making law is the first; amending the Constitution is the constituent function; controlling the executive, trying impeachments, electing other office-holders and controlling money complete the list.
In a parliamentary system the executive sits inside the legislature and is collectively responsible to it. Control works through Question Hour, Zero Hour, adjournment, censure and cut motions, committees, and finally the no-confidence motion. In a presidential system the legislature cannot remove the executive, and controls it through money, hearings, confirmations and impeachment.
The Indian Parliament consists of the President, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. No bill becomes law without the President’s assent, which is why law-making is described as the work of the President-in-Parliament.
The Lok Sabha has a maximum strength of 550 and a present strength of 543. Members are directly elected on universal adult franchise by first-past-the-post, must be at least 25, and sit for five years unless the House is dissolved earlier.
The Rajya Sabha has a maximum strength of 250 and a present strength of 245, of whom 12 are nominated by the President. Members are elected indirectly by the elected members of the state assemblies through the single transferable vote, must be at least 30, and serve six years; the House is never dissolved and one-third retires every second year.
The two Houses are equal in ordinary legislation, in the constituent power, in impeachment and in the removal of judges. They are unequal wherever the government’s survival is at stake: money bills begin only in the Lok Sabha, demands for grants are voted only there, and the Council of Ministers answers to it alone.
Deadlock over an ordinary bill can be broken by a joint sitting under Article 108, where the larger House ordinarily prevails. The Rajya Sabha’s own special powers lie elsewhere — under Article 249 it can open a State List subject to Parliament, and under Article 312 it can call for an All India Service.
The United States Congress was shaped by the Great Compromise of 1787, which settled the quarrel between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan by giving one chamber to population and the other to the states.
The House of Representatives has 435 members elected from single-member districts for two-year terms, and cannot be dissolved. Revenue bills must originate there, and it alone brings a charge of impeachment.
The Senate has 100 members, two per state, directly elected since the Seventeenth Amendment of 1913 for six-year staggered terms. It confirms senior appointments, ratifies treaties by a two-thirds vote, and alone tries impeachments.
The Senate is regarded as the world’s most powerful second chamber because it is fully equal in legislation, cannot be overridden, holds exclusive powers over appointments and treaties, and gains continuity from long staggered terms.
The central contrast between the two systems is not the number of chambers but the position of the executive. A parliamentary executive must have one House whose confidence decides its life; a presidential executive need not, which is why the American chambers can be equals and the Indian ones cannot.
The Arguments In One Place
The chapter’s central claim is that a second chamber earns its place in a federation. It gives the states a room of their own and forces a law to survive a second look, which is why India and the United States both built one.
The strongest position against it is equally clear. A chamber the voters did not directly choose, or chose on unequal terms, should not be able to obstruct the chamber they did — and where it can be overridden anyway, as in India, it may be adding delay rather than judgement.
The disagreement is not really about chambers. It is about whether ‘the people’ means a single national majority entitled to act, or a people organised into states whose consent must also be obtained.
Both systems answered that question by saying ‘both’, and then differed on how much power the second answer should carry.
4.7 Key Terms
Bicameral legislature — A legislature with two chambers, usually one directly elected and one composed on a different basis.
Collective responsibility — The rule that the Council of Ministers stands or falls together before the Lok Sabha, and must resign if it loses that House’s confidence.
Federalism — A system in which governmental power is divided by the Constitution between a central government and regional governments, each having its own sphere.
Impeachment — A formal proceeding by a legislature to remove a high public official for specified grave misconduct.
Joint sitting — A combined meeting of both Houses of Parliament, summoned by the President under Article 108 to resolve a deadlock over an ordinary bill.
Legislature — The organ of government that makes, amends and repeals the law.
Money bill — A bill dealing only with matters such as taxation, government borrowing, and payments out of the Consolidated Fund of India, which may be introduced only in the Lok Sabha.
No-confidence motion — A motion in the Lok Sabha which, if carried, compels the entire Council of Ministers to resign.
Quorum — The minimum number of members who must be present for a House to conduct business; in India, one-tenth of its total membership.
Separation of powers — The arrangement by which law-making, execution and adjudication are placed in three distinct organs of government.
Unicameral legislature — A legislature with a single chamber, responsible for the whole of law-making.
4.8 Points to Ponder
If a second chamber can always be overridden at a joint sitting, in what sense does it check the first?
A no-confidence motion can remove a government, yet governments with large majorities are almost never removed by one. Does the power still do useful work?
The Rajya Sabha can allow Parliament to legislate on a State List subject in the national interest. Should the chamber of the states be the body that hands a state’s power to the Union?
Members of the House of Representatives face election every two years, members of the Rajya Sabha every six. Which term is likelier to produce independent judgement, and what does it cost?
If law-making in India requires the President’s assent, is it accurate to call Parliament the law-making organ?
Equal representation of states means an unequal weight for voters. Can a federation be democratic and federal at the same time, or must it choose?
4.9 Objective Questions
- The maximum strength of the Rajya Sabha laid down by the Constitution is:
- 233
- 245
- 250
- 252 [1 mark]
- A money bill in India may be introduced:
- in either House of Parliament
- only in the Lok Sabha, on the recommendation of the President
- only in the Rajya Sabha
- only at a joint sitting of both Houses [1 mark]
- Members of the United States Senate are elected:
- by the state legislatures
- by the Electoral College
- directly by the voters of each state
- by the House of Representatives [1 mark]
- A joint sitting of the two Houses of the Indian Parliament may be summoned in the case of:
- a money bill
- a constitutional amendment bill
- an ordinary bill on which the Houses disagree
- any bill whatsoever [1 mark]
- The power to ratify a treaty negotiated by the President of the United States belongs to:
- the House of Representatives
- the Senate, by a two-thirds vote of those present
- both chambers, by a simple majority
- the Supreme Court [1 mark]
- Match the following: [1 mark]
| Column A | Column B |
|---|---|
| a. Article 108 | i. All India Services |
| b. Article 249 | ii. Amendment of the Constitution |
| c. Article 312 | iii. Joint sitting of the two Houses |
| d. Article 368 | iv. Legislation by Parliament on a State List subject |
Fill in the blank: The presiding officer of the Rajya Sabha is the ________ of India, who holds the office ex officio. [1 mark]
State whether true or false: The Lok Sabha, like the House of Representatives, cannot be dissolved before the end of its term. [1 mark]
Assertion: The Rajya Sabha cannot reject a money bill. Reason: The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha alone.
- Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
- Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
- A is true, but R is false.
- A is false, but R is true. [1 mark]
Assertion: The United States Senate is described as the world’s most powerful second chamber. Reason: The House of Representatives can override the Senate at a joint sitting.
- Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
- Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
- A is true, but R is false.
- A is false, but R is true. [1 mark]
4.10 Check Your Concepts
Define a legislature, and name the three organs of government. [2 marks]
State the meaning of quorum, and give the quorum required in each House of the Indian Parliament. [2 marks]
Differentiate between a unicameral and a bicameral legislature, giving one example of each. [3 marks]
Give three reasons commonly offered for having a second chamber in a federation. [3 marks]
Explain the constituent function of a legislature, with reference to the Indian Parliament. [4 marks]
Describe any two special powers of the Rajya Sabha, and explain why each is given to that House rather than to the Lok Sabha. [4 marks]
Evaluate the claim that the Rajya Sabha is only a delaying chamber. [4 marks]
Describe the ways in which the Lok Sabha controls the executive, and assess how effective each is when the government commands a large majority. [6 marks]
Compare the composition, method of election and tenure of the Rajya Sabha with those of the United States Senate. [6 marks]
‘The United States Senate is the most powerful second chamber in the world.’ Discuss this claim with reference to its legislative, executive and judicial powers. [6 marks]
4.11 Source & Passage-Based Questions
- Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
“All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.” — The Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 7, Clause 1
a. Which chamber does this clause give the first word on taxation, and which power does it leave with the other chamber? [2 marks]
b. Compare this arrangement with the position of a money bill in the Indian Parliament. [3 marks]
c. State one thing this clause cannot tell us about how the two chambers actually behave. [2 marks]- Read the situation and answer the questions that follow.
A bill is introduced in the Lok Sabha and passed there without difficulty. It is sent to the Rajya Sabha, which rejects it outright. Several months pass and neither House gives way. The government advises the President to summon a joint sitting of both Houses.
a. Under which Article may the joint sitting be summoned, and who presides over it? [2 marks]
b. Explain why the Lok Sabha is likely to prevail at such a sitting. [2 marks]
c. Name one kind of bill for which this procedure is not available, and give the reason. [2 marks]- Read the situation and answer the questions that follow.
A member of the Lok Sabha rises during Question Hour to ask a minister why funds sanctioned for a scheme in her constituency remain unspent. Dissatisfied with the reply, the opposition later moves a motion to reduce the ministry’s demand for grants.
a. Identify the second device the opposition has used, and state its purpose. [2 marks]
b. Explain how these devices rest on the principle of collective responsibility. [3 marks]
c. Would either device be available to a member of the United States House of Representatives? Give a reason. [2 marks]4.12 Practice With Data
The Lok Sabha has a present strength of 543 members and the Rajya Sabha a present strength of 245.
- Calculate the total number of members present at a joint sitting if every member attends, and state the number needed to carry a bill. [2 marks]
- Using these figures, explain why the outcome of a joint sitting is normally predictable. [2 marks]
- State one factor, not shown by these numbers, that could change the result. [1 mark]
The United States Senate has 100 members. A treaty requires the approval of two-thirds of the Senators present, and a cloture motion to close debate requires 60 votes.
- If all 100 Senators are present, how many votes are needed to ratify a treaty? [1 mark]
- How many Senators are therefore sufficient to defeat a treaty, and how many to sustain a filibuster? [2 marks]
- Explain what these thresholds show about the position of a minority in the Senate. [3 marks]