Legislative council

Published on 16 Jan 2025

The State Legislative Council or Vidhan Parishad is the upper house in the states which have opted for a bicameral legislature with its establishment defined in Article 169 of the Constitution of India. Presently six states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, have a legislative council.

Arguments against legislative council

Little power to influence policy making: The power of legislative council is very less when compared to legislative assembly or even compared to Rajya Sabha which questions their relevance in policy formulation.

Example: A bill initiated in the council, if rejected in the Assembly, ends right there. The maximum a Council can do to prevent a bill passed in the Assembly is to delay the bill for 4 months, after which it automatically gets passed.

Financial burden: The finance for meeting the infrastructure, administration and human costs is an extra burden on the government exchequer which reaps little benefit.
Delay in decision-making: The presence of two houses is a hindrance to quick decision-making and can cause unwanted delay.
Political appointment: Legislative councils have turned into a body where party veterans who have failed to win the Assembly elections end up exerting their power.

Example: When Mamata Banerjee failed to win the 2021 assembly election, the West Bengal assembly passed a bill to have a legislative council. Critics argue this as a move to include Mamata into the ministry.

Duplication of efforts: As a bicameral system already exists at the national level, a similar system at the state level is unnecessary and only results in duplication of efforts.

Weakness of Legislative Council with respect to Rajya Sabha

Though the Legislative Council is a replica of the Rajya Sabha, with both being the upper houses at central and state level, the powers of the council are on the lower side when compared to Rajya Sabha.

The Rajya Sabha involves representation from states, thus indicative of Indian federalism while this federal aspect is missing for legislative council. Similarly, Rajya Sabha is a necessity to accommodate diverse opinions from diverse regional and minority groups. This element is not that relevant within a single state.

The following table shows some major domains where the legislative council lags behind the Rajya Sabha

Aspect of power	Rajya Sabha	Legislative Council
Representation	Represents the interest of state-regional and federal perspective	No federal dimension in appointment. Can accommodate diversity within a state.
Ordinary bill	Can suggest amendments to the bill. Power to have a deadlock on matters of non-convergence.	Final power of passing the bill is with the assembly. The council is merely a dilatory body that can delay a bill for 4 months.
Amendment power	Equal power as Lok Sabha for constitutional amendment.	No amendment power
Election of President	Elected members of the house participate.	Not part of the Presidential election.
Existence	An accepted permanent body since independence	Created in a state only when the state legislature passes a bill in favour of creating a council.

Even though legislative councils serve certain purposes, the benefits served do not necessarily match with the cost incurred and hence the majority of states have opted not to have such a council. Still, the upper house can be considered in states that have high internal diversity to bring more inclusive and representative governance.