Organisation of State Legislature: Unicameral and Bicameral

Unicameral bicameral legislature structure is a defining feature of how India's states organise their lawmaking bodies. Unlike Parliament, which always has two Houses, the Constitution leaves each state free to have either one House or two. Article 168 sets out this choice, and only a handful of states currently exercise the option of keeping an upper House alongside their directly elected Assembly.

Article 168: What the Constitution Provides

Article 168 provides that for every state there shall be a Legislature consisting of the Governor and, in some states, both a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly, while in other states there is only a Legislative Assembly. Where a state has both Houses, its legislature is described as bicameral; where it has only the Assembly, the legislature is unicameral. A separate provision, Article 169, allows Parliament to create or abolish a state's Legislative Council if the concerned state's Assembly asks for the change by special resolution.

States with Bicameral Legislatures Today

Six states currently retain a Legislative Council alongside their Assembly: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Every other state has a unicameral legislature consisting of the Governor and the Legislative Assembly alone.

The list of bicameral states has shifted over time, and several individual histories illustrate how flexible this arrangement is:

State	Legislative Council status
Andhra Pradesh	Bicameral — Council revived via the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Act, 2005
Telangana	Bicameral
Uttar Pradesh	Bicameral
Bihar	Bicameral
Maharashtra	Bicameral
Karnataka	Bicameral
Madhya Pradesh	Unicameral — the Seventh Amendment Act, 1956 provided for a Council, but the required presidential notification has never been issued
Tamil Nadu	Unicameral — the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Act, 2010 was passed but never brought into force
Jammu and Kashmir (former state)	Council abolished by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019

Composition and Size Limits

The Legislative Assembly consists of members directly elected on the basis of universal adult franchise. Its maximum strength is fixed at 500 members and its minimum strength at 60. The Legislative Council, by contrast, is capped at not more than one-third of the Assembly's strength, with a floor of 40 members — making it structurally the smaller of the two Houses wherever it exists.

Duration: A Key Difference Between the Two Houses

The two Houses also differ sharply in how long they last. The Legislative Assembly continues for five years from the date of its first meeting unless dissolved earlier. During a Proclamation of Emergency, Parliament may extend this term by law for one year at a time, but the extension cannot continue beyond six months after the Emergency ceases to operate — meaning fresh Assembly elections must follow within six months of the Emergency's revocation.

The Legislative Council, unlike the Assembly, is a continuing, permanent body that is not subject to dissolution at all — a feature it shares with the Rajya Sabha at the Union level. One-third of its members retire at the end of every second year, so that each member serves a term of six years. The resulting vacancies are filled through fresh elections and nominations by the Governor at the start of every third year, and retiring members remain eligible for re-election or re-nomination any number of times.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims: The current list of bicameral states, the composition limits for the Assembly and Council, and the differing duration rules for the two Houses are frequently tested facts.

Mains: GS Paper II questions on state legislatures may ask candidates to evaluate the rationale for a second chamber at the state level, drawing on how few states actually retain one.

FAQ

Q1. How many states currently have a bicameral legislature? Six — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Q2. What is the maximum and minimum strength of a Legislative Assembly? A maximum of 500 members and a minimum of 60.

Q3. What is the maximum and minimum strength of a Legislative Council? Not more than one-third of the Assembly's strength, with a minimum of 40 members.

Q4. Can the Legislative Council be dissolved like the Assembly? No — the Council is a continuing body; only one-third of its members retire every two years, unlike the Assembly, which can be dissolved.

Q5. Why does Madhya Pradesh not have a Legislative Council despite the 1956 provision for one? Because the presidential notification required to actually bring the Council into existence has never been issued.

Quick Revision

• Article 168: State Legislature = Governor + Assembly (unicameral) or Governor + Council + Assembly (bicameral).
• Six bicameral states today: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka.
• Assembly strength: max 500, min 60. Council strength: max one-third of Assembly, min 40.
• Assembly term: 5 years, extendable by 1 year at a time during Emergency (up to 6 months after it ends).
• Council: permanent body, not dissolved; one-third retire every 2 years; member term = 6 years.

Sources

• The Constitution of India, Article 168, Part VI — legislative.gov.in
• The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 — legislative.gov.in
• The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Act, 2005 — legislative.gov.in

Further Reference

For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:

• M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
• D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
• The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.

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