Lok Sabha


The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of India, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, and they hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the president of India on the advice of the union council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha chamber of the Parliament House in New Delhi.
The maximum membership of the house as allotted by the Constitution of India is 552 before the abolition of Anglo-Indian seats, currently it is 550. As of 2025, the house has 543 elected members. Between 1952 and 2020, two additional members of the Anglo-Indian community were nominated by the president of India on the advice of the Indian government, and the practice was abolished in January 2020 by the 104th amendment to the Indian constitution. The new parliament has a maximum seating capacity for 888 members in Lok Sabha.
About 131 seats are reserved for representatives of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The quorum for the House is 10% of the total membership the house. Unless dissolved sooner, the house continues to operate for five years from the date of its first meeting. However, when a state of emergency in India is declared, this period may be extended by the parliament of India by law or decree. The 18th Lok Sabha is the latest to be elected in May 2024. The Lok Sabha proceedings are televised live on Sansad TV, operating from within the parliament premises.
An exercise to redraw the boundaries of the Lok Sabha constituencies is carried out by the delimitation commission. It is carried out every decade based on the census of India, the last of which was conducted in 2011. This provision was temporarily suspended between 1976 and 2001 following a constitutional amendment to incentivize the family planning program which was being implemented. The elections for the seats are conducted by the election commission.

History

A major portion of the Indian subcontinent was under British rule from 1858 to 1947. During this period, the office of the Secretary of State for India was the authority through whom British Parliament exercised its rule in the Indian sub-continent, and the office of Viceroy of India was created, along with an Executive Council in India, consisting of high officials of the British government. The Indian Councils Act 1861 provided for a Legislative Council consisting of the members of the Executive Council and non-official members. The Indian Councils Act 1892 established legislatures in each of the provinces of British India and increased the powers of the Legislative Council. Although these Acts increased the representation of Indians in the government, their power remained limited, and the electorate very small. The Indian Councils Act 1909 admitted some Indians to the various councils. The Government of India Act 1919 further expanded the participation of Indians in the administration, creating the Central Legislative Assembly, for which Parliament House, New Delhi, was built and opened in 1927.
The Government of India Act 1935 introduced provincial autonomy and proposed a federal structure in India. The Indian Independence Act 1947, passed by the British parliament on 18 July 1947, divided British India into two newly independent countries, India and Pakistan, which were to be dominions under the Crown until they had each enacted a new constitution. The Constituent Assembly was divided into two for the separate nations, with each new Assembly having sovereign powers transferred to it for the respective dominion.
The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950, proclaiming India to be a sovereign, democratic republic. This contained the founding principles of the law of the land which would govern India in its new form, which now included all the princely states which had not acceded to Pakistan.
According to Article 79 of the Constitution of India, the Parliament of India consists of the President of India and the two Houses of Parliament known as the Council of States and the House of the People.
The Lok Sabha was duly constituted for the first time on 17 April 1952 after the first General Elections held from 25 October 1951 to 21 February 1952.

List

Qualifications

Article 84 of Indian Constitution sets qualifications for being a member of Lok Sabha, which are as follows:
  1. They should be a citizen of India, and must subscribe before the Election Commission of India, an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
  2. They should not be less than 25 years of age.
  3. They possess other such qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or under any law made by the Parliament.
  4. They should not be proclaimed criminal i.e. they should not be a convict, a confirmed debtor or otherwise disqualified by law; and
  5. They should have their name in the electoral rolls in any part of the country.
However, a member can be disqualified from being a member of Parliament:
  1. If they hold the office of profit;
  2. If they are of unsound mind and stand so declared by a competent court
  3. If they are an undischarged insolvent;
  4. If they are not a citizen of India, or have voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign State, or are under any acknowledgement of allegiance or adherence to a foreign State;
  5. If they are violating party discipline ; disqualified under Representation of People Act.
A seat in the Lok Sabha will become vacant in the following circumstances :
  1. When the holder of the seat, by writing to the speaker, resigns.
  2. When the holder of the seat is absent from 60 consecutive days of proceedings of the House, without prior permission of the Speaker.
  3. When the holder of the seat is subject to any disqualifications mentioned in the Constitution or any law enacted by Parliament.
  4. A seat may also be vacated when the holder stands disqualified under the 'Anti-Defection Law'.
Furthermore, as per article 101 of the Indian Constitution, a person cannot be:
  1. A member of both Houses of Parliament and provision shall be made by Parliament by law for the vacation by a person who is chosen a member of both Houses of his seat in one House or the other.
  2. A member both of Parliament and of a House of the Legislature of a State.

    System of elections in Lok Sabha

Members of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by the people of India, based on universal suffrage. Elections are by the people directly to the Lok Sabha and each state is divided into territorial constituencies under two provisions of the Constitution:
  1. Each state is allotted several seats in the Lok Sabha in such a manner that the ratio between that number and its population was as close to uniform as possible. This provision does not apply to states having a population of less than 6 million. The number of seats per state has been frozen under the constitutional amendment of 1976.
  2. Each state is divided into territorial constituencies in such a manner that the ratio between the population of each constituency and the number of seats allotted to it remain the same throughout the state. This principle is upheld by the boundary reviews mentioned above.
Notes:
  1. The expression "population" while distributing seats among states refers to the population ascertained at the census of 1971, per the Constitutional Amendment of 1976.
  2. The expression "population" while distributing constituencies within a state refers to the population ascertained at the census of 2011.

    Powers

The Lok Sabha has certain powers that make it more powerful than the Rajya Sabha.
  • Motions of no confidence against the government can be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha. If passed by a majority vote, the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers resign collectively. The Rajya Sabha has no power over such a motion and hence has no real power over the executive. This is because the Constitution of India has only made the Union Council of ministers responsible to the Lok Sabha, not to the Rajya Sabha.
  • Money bills can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha, and upon being passed, are sent to the Rajya Sabha, where it can be deliberated on for up to 14 days. If not rejected by the Rajya Sabha, or 14 days lapse from the introduction of the bill in the Rajya Sabha without any action by the House, or recommendations made by the Rajya Sabha are not accepted by the Lok Sabha, the bill is considered passed. The budget is presented in the Lok Sabha by the Finance Minister in the name of the President of India.
  • In matters about non-financial bills, after the bill has been passed by the House where it was originally tabled, it is sent to the other house, where it may be kept for a maximum period of 6 months. If the other House rejects the bill or a period of 6 months elapses without any action by that House, or the House that originally tabled the bill does not accept the recommendations made by the members of the other house, it results in a deadlock. This is resolved by a joint session of both Houses, presided over by the speaker of the Lok Sabha and decided by a simple majority. Though the Constitution has placed both houses on the same footing in this regard, in reality, it is the Lok Sabha's opinions that mostly prevail—due to its bigger numerical strength.
  • Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in initiating and passing any Bill for Constitutional Amendment.
  • Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in initiating and passing a motion for the impeachment of the President.
  • Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in the impeachment process of the judges of the Supreme Court and the state High Courts, who then can be removed by the President of India.
  • Equal Powers with the Rajya Sabha in initiating and passing a resolution declaring war or national emergency or constitutional emergency in a state.
  • If the Lok Sabha is dissolved before or after the declaration of a National Emergency, the Rajya Sabha becomes the sole Parliament. It cannot be dissolved. This is a limitation on the Lok Sabha. But there is a possibility that the president can exceed the term to not more than 1 year under the proclamation of emergency and the same would be lowered down to six-month if the said proclamation ceases to operate.
In conclusion, the Lok Sabha is more powerful than the Rajya Sabha in almost all matters. Even in those matters in which the Constitution has placed both Houses on an equal footing, the Lok Sabha has more influence due to its greater numerical strength. This is typical of parliamentary democracies, many of which have a lower house that is more powerful than the upper.