Bihar Vidhan Parishad, also known as Bihar Legislative Council, is the

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

of the

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...

Bihar Legislature The Bihar Legislature (IAST: ''Bihar Vidhan Mandal'') is the supreme legislative body of the state of Bihar. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Governor of Bihar and two houses: the Bihar Vidhan Parishad (Bihar Legislative Council) and ...

of the state of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

History

A new Province of

and

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

was created by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

on 12 December 1911. The Legislative Council with a total of 43 members belonging to different categories was formed in 1912. The first sitting of the Council was convened on 20 January 1913 at

Patna College Patna College is a constituent state aided College of Patna University which is established in 1863 during the British Raj, is one of the oldest colleges in the state of Bihar, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in science, ...

Bankipore. In 1920 Bihar and Orissa declared governor province, as per

Government of India Act 1919 The Government of India Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5 c. 101) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The Act embodied the reforms recommended in the report of ...

. As per

Government of India Act 1935 The Government of India Act, 1935 was an Act adapted from the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest Act of (British) Parliament ever enacted until the Greater London Authority ...

Bihar and Orissa was split into separate provinces of Bihar and Orissa. In 1936, iharattained its separate Statehood. Under the

Act, 1919, the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

got converted into

one, i.e., the Bihar Legislative Council and the

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the Bihar Legislature where the first elections were held in 1952. The total strength of membership in the Assembly was 331, including one nominated m ...

. Under the

Act, 1935, the Bihar Legislative Council consisted of 29 members. On March 21, 1938, the session of the Bihar Legislative Council took place in a newly built building. On 1 April 1950, the secretariat of BLC started functioning. After the first General Elections 1952, the number of members was increased up to 72 and by 1958 the number was raised to 96. With the creation of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

, as a result of the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 passed by the Parliament, the strength of the Bihar Legislative Council has been reduced from 96 to 75 members. Some veteran council members B. P. Mandal, Jagannath Mishra, Satyendra Narain Singh and Lalu Prasad Yadav have also served as Chief Minister of Bihar.

Working

Bihar Legislative Council is a permanent body and not subject to dissolution. But as nearly as possible, one-third of the members thereof retire as soon as may be on the expiration of every second year. Members are now elected or nominated for six years and one-third of them retire every second year. The presiding officers of Vidhan Parishad are now known as Chairman and Deputy Chairman. Members of the upper house, the Legislative Council are indirectly elected through an electoral college. There are 27 Committees which are, at present, functional in the Council. Besides, there are three Financial Committees consisting of the members of the two Houses of the State Legislature.

Current members

* Chairman :

Devesh Chandra Thakur Devesh Chandra Thakur was born on 3 July 1953 in Sitamarhi, Bihar. He is the Chairman of Bihar Legislative Council. He was sworn in as chairman of Bihar Legislative Council on 25th August 2022. He has also served as a cabinet minister in Govern ...

* Deputy Chairman : Ram Chandra Purve * Leader of the House :

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unite ...

* Deputy Leader of the House :

Tejashwi Yadav Tejashwi Prasad Yadav (born 9 November 1989) is an Indian politician, former cricketer, and the current Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, in office since August 2022. He also serves as the Minister of Health, Minister of Road Construction and Pu ...

* Government's Chief Whip : Sanjay Kumar Singh urf Sanjay Gandhi
* Leader of the Opposition :

Samrat Chaudhary Samrat Chaudhary alias Rakesh Kumar is a politician and Member of Legislative Council from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has also remained Member of Legislative Assembly and a minister in Government of Bihar in Rashtriya Janata Dal gove ...

Elected by Legislative Assembly Members (27)

Keys:

Elected from Local Authorities Constituencies (24)

Keys:

Elected from Graduates Constituencies (6)

Keys:

Elected from Teachers Constituencies (6)

Keys:

Nominated (12)

Keys:

External links

Official Website

References

{{Legislatures of India 1912 establishments in India

History

Working

Current members

Elected by Legislative Assembly Members (27)

Elected from Local Authorities Constituencies (24)

Elected from Graduates Constituencies (6)

Elected from Teachers Constituencies (6)

Nominated (12)

See also

External links

References