1.2. Organization

♤ Based on the number of houses, a state legislature can either be Unicameral or Bicameral. Bicameral legislature means that the legislature has two Houses – an upper and a lower apart from the governor. The legislative council (Vidhan Parishad) is the Upper House while the legislative assembly (Vidhan Sabha) is the Lower House.

♤ Montagu – Chelmsford Reforms introduced Bicameralism in India at the centre. Later, Govt. of India Act 1935 extended it to 6 out of 11 provinces namely Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Bihar, Assam and the United Provinces.

♤ The Constitution has given the States the option of establishing either a unicameral or bicameral legislature. At present only six States have a bicameral legislature – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.