Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA)

State Wise List of MLAs

About Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA)

The federal structure of the Indian system of governance is three-tiered, each tier having executive functions. According to the Constitution of India, the Union or the Central Government is the highest executive body of India. It delineates some of its powers to its constituent political units that comprise the State Governments in each state. This is the second tier in the structure. In other words, each state is vested with exclusive executive powers, managed by the ruling governments in each state. The third tier in the federal structure is the local-level governance of the Panchayats and the Municipalities.

The legislative body of a state in India is called as the State Legislative Assembly. Just as the Central government has the parliament as the legislative body, the states have their respective state legislative assembly. However, the law passed by the parliament applies to the entire country. Whereas, the laws passed by state legislative assembly apply to that specific state. State Legislative Assembly is also called Vidhan Sabha. Further, states have adopted either unicameral or bicameral legislature. Unicameral means having only one legislative chamber or the house while bicameral implies that there are two legislative chambers. In the bicameral system, the lower house of the legislature for a state is known as the State Legislative Assembly and the upper house is known as the State Legislative Council. There are 28 states in India and 9 union territories. Out of the 28 states, 22 are having the unicameral state legislature and 6 have bicameral state legislature. Out of 9 union territories, 3 have their own state legislative assemblies.

What is an MLA?

MLA stands for the Member of Legislative Assembly. A state legislative assembly has a specific number of constituencies depending on the demographic of the state. A representative is elected directly by the people of the constituency, who then becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly or MLA. MLA is elected for a term of 5 years.

Eligibility Criteria for MLA

● Should be a Citizen of India
● Should not be less than 25 years old
● A person must be an elector for any Legislative Assembly constituency in that state according to the Representation of the People Act, 1951
● A person must not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any state other than that of a Minister for the Indian Union
● A person must be of a sound mind
● According to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a person cannot remain an MLA if that person has been convicted by a court or found guilty in any particular instance.

Powers of an MLA

The powers and functions of the Members of the Legislative Assembly can be categorized under the following heads:

Legislative Powers:
The primary function of a Member of the Legislative Assembly is law-making. The Constitution of India states that the Members of the Legislative Assembly can exercise their legislative powers on all matters on which the Parliament cannot legislate. An MLA can exercise his legislative powers on the State List and the Concurrent List. The State List contains subjects of importance to the individual state alone, such as trade, commerce, development, irrigation, and agriculture, while the Concurrent List contains items of importance to both the Union Government and the State Government such as succession, marriage, education, adoption, forests and so on. Although ideally, only the Members of the Legislative Assembly can legislate on the State List, the Parliament can legislate on subjects in the State List while Emergency has been imposed on the state. In addition to that, on the matters that are included in the Concurrent List, the laws made by the Parliament are prioritized over the laws made by the Legislative Assembly if the President does not give his assent to the laws made by the Legislative Assembly. Although the Members of the Legislative Assembly are the highest law-making organs of the State government, their legislative powers are not absolute.

Financial Powers:
The Legislative Assembly holds absolute financial powers in the state. A Money Bill can only originate in the Legislative Assembly and the Members of the Legislative Assembly must give consent for any of the expenses made from the State Treasury. It must be noted that in the states that have a bicameral legislature, both the Legislative Council and the Vidhan Parishad can pass the Bill or suggest changes to the Bill within 14 days of its receipt although the members are not bound to abide by the changes suggested. All grants and tax-raising proposals must be authorized by the MLAs for them to be executed and implemented for the development of the state.

Executive Powers:
The Members of the Legislative Assembly in each state exercise certain executive powers. They control the activities and actions taken by the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers. In other words, the ruling government is answerable to the Legislative Assembly for all its decisions. A vote of no-confidence can be passed only by the MLAs in any state that, if passed by a majority, can force the ruling government to resign. Question Hour, Cut Motions and Adjournment Motions can be exercised by the Members of the Legislative Assembly in order to restrict the executive organ of the state government machinery.

Electoral Powers:

The Members of the Legislative Assembly have certain electoral powers such as the following:
1. Elected Members of the Legislative Assembly comprise the Electoral College that elects the President of India.
2. MLAs elect the members of the Rajya Sabha, who represent a particular state.
3. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly are elected by the MLAs.
4. In states with a bicameral legislature, one-third of the members of the Legislative Council are elected by the MLAs.

Constituent and Miscellaneous Powers:
1. Some parts of the Constitution of India that relate to federal provisions can be amended by ratification by one-half of the Members of the Legislative Assembly.
2. MLAs review reports of the Public Service Commission and the Accountant General.
3. MLAs appoint the various Committees to the House

Salary of an MLA

The salary of a Member of the Legislative Assembly of a state in India, like that of the Member of the Parliament of the country, is accompanied by a number of other allowances besides the basic pay, such as constituency allowances, sumptuous allowances, expense allowance, and daily allowances. The salary of an MLA is decided by the respective state legislatures in the country as per Article 164 of the Indian Constitution. Thus, it varies from one state to another. As of now, the state of Telangana is offering the highest salary of Rs. 2.5 Lakh per month to MLAs amongst other states. Whereas, Tripura is offering only Rs. 34,000 as a salary to MLAs, which is the lowest.

Facilities Given to an MLA

The facilities given to the MLA of each state include medical facilities, residence facilities, reimbursement of electricity and phone bills and traveling facilities among other things as each facility is enumerated in the state legislatures of the country. The amounts vary from one state to another as is specifically detailed in the respective state legislatures of the country.

Election Process of an MLA

The Members of the Legislative Assembly are elected directly by the voters in each constituency after the expiry of the assembly's tenure. The Legislative Assembly elections are held in each state, usually after a period of every five years. It must be noted that the assembly elections to all the states are not held together in the same year. The members are directly elected through an electorate who votes according to the universal adult franchise. Each member of the Legislative Assembly is required to represent and voice the concerns of their constituency. The Governor of a state holds the power to nominate one member of the Anglo-Indian community if he/she is of the opinion that the community lacks adequate representation in the assembly