Parliament is the supreme legislative organ of India under the Constitution. It is empowered to enact or amend any law in any area except those that the Constitution itself reserves exclusively for the states.
The constitution of Parliament, composition of Council of States (Rajya Sabha), composition of the House of People (Lok Sabha), duration of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, qualification of members, session’s prorogued dissolution etc. are provided in Chapter XI of the Constitution.
According to Article 79 Parliament consists of the President, and two houses, Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and House of the People (Lok Sabha).
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Under Article 80, the Rajya Sabha consists of 12 members nominated by President and upto 238 representatives of States and of the Union territories.
The representatives of each State in the Council of States are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the State in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.
The representatives of the Union territories in Rajya Sabha (Council of States) are chosen according to the law made by Parliament.
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Article 81 lays down the composition of the House of the People (Lok Sabha). The provision stipulates that the Lok Sabha shall consist of not more than 530 members, who are directly elected by the Lok Sabha constituencies in States and not more than 20 members from the Union territories.
The Constitution’s 91st Amendment of 2003 mandates that the total number of ministers including the Prime Minister in Lok Sabha shall not exceed 15% of the total number of members of Lok Sabha.
