Legislature

Legislature

Introduction

Legislature is one of most important institution for the functioning of representative democracy. The basic objective of the legislature is to hold its representatives accountable, responsible for the interest of the people in the country. Legislature is generally referred as the highest law-making body, having elected representation from all the constituents of the state to make or change the laws of the country. In India, legislature at the Centre is called as Parliament and is also referred as National Legislature. The legislatures in The State and the Union Territory are called as Legislative Assemblies.

The Parliament consists two houses namely; House of the People (Lok Sabha – Lower House) and Council of States (Rajya Sabha - Upper House). This is known as bicameral system of Parliament, and has inspired by the British Parliamentary system and the bicameral system of the USA. Similarly, the States have Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. But in many of the States only unicameral legislatures exist without any Legislative Councils. In India, the Parliament shares its law making function and responsibilities of implementation with twenty eight states as well as nine union territories. The Union Territories are directly governed by the Union Government.