PARLIAMENT OF INDIA

PARLIAMENT OF INDIA

The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the President of India and the two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President in his role as head of legislature has full powers to summon and prorogue either house of Parliament or to dissolve Lok Sabha. The president can exercise these powers only upon the advice of the Prime Minister and his Union Council of Ministers.

Those elected or nominated (by the President) to either house of Parliament are referred to as Members of Parliament (MP). The Members of Parliament, Lok Sabha are directly elected by the Indian public voting in Single-member districts and the Members of Parliament, Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of all State Legislative Assembly by proportional representation. The Parliament has a sanctioned strength of 545 in Lok Sabha including the 2 nominees from the Anglo-Indian Community by the President, and 245 in Rajya Sabha including the 12 nominees from the expertise of different fields of science, culture, art and history. The Parliament meets at Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi.

The period during which the House meets to conduct its business is called a session. The Constitution empowers the president to summon each House at such intervals that there should not be more than a six-month gap between the two sessions. Hence the Parliament must meet at least twice a year. In India, the parliament conducts three sessions each year:
Budget session: February to May
Monsoon session: July to September
Winter session: November to December

The Indian Parliament consists of two houses called the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha with the President of India acting as their head.

The president is indirectly elected by an electoral college comprising the Parliament of India (both houses) and the legislative assemblies of each of India's states and territories, who themselves are all directly elected.Although the Article 53 of the Constitution of India states that the president can exercise his powers directly or by subordinate authority, with few exceptions, all of the executive powers vested in the president are, in practice, exercised by the prime minister (a subordinate authority) with the help of the Council of Ministers.The president is bound by the constitution to act on the advice of the prime minister and cabinet as long as the advice is not violating the constitution.

Rashtrapati Bhavan

                                                      

The Rajya Sabha also known as Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Maximum strength of Rajya Sabha is 250 members and current laws have provision for 245 members. Most of the members of the House are indirectly elected by the members of States and union territories of India state and territorial legislatures using single transferable votes, while the President can appoint 12 members for their contributions to art, literature, science, and social services(This concept of nominated Members is taken from Irish constitution). The term of the Rajya Sabha is 6 years with one-third retiring every two years.

The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, and they hold their seats for five years.The maximum strength of the House allotted by the Constitution of India is 552. Currently the house has 545 seats which is made up by election of up to 543 elected members and at a maximum, 2 nominated members of the Anglo-Indian Community by the President of India.