The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, one of the 28 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 constituencies within the borders of Kerala and is referred to as
Member of the Legislative Assembly
A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...
(MLA). The present Kerala Legislative Assembly consists of 140 elected members.
History
![Kerala Legislative Assembly, Thiruvananthapuram](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Kerala_Legislative_Assembly%2C_Thiruvananthapuram.jpg)
In
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
, the State of Kerala was formed on linguistic basis, merging
Cochin
Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
,
Malabar
Malabar may refer to the following:
People
* Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India
* Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion
Places
* Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...
, and
Travancore
The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...
regions, and the
Kasaragod
Kasaragod () is a municipal town and administrative headquarters of Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kerala and ...
region of
South Canara
South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas o ...
.
The first
assembly election in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
state was held in February–March 1957.
The first ''Kerala Legislative Assembly'' was formed on 5 April 1957. The Assembly had 127 members including a nominated member.
The current delimitation committee of 2010 reaffirmed the total number of seats at 140.
Niyamasabha Complex
![Niyamasabha Mandiram](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Niyamasabha_Mandiram.JPG)
The State Assembly is known as Niyamasabha and is housed in New Legislature Complex. This 5 storied complex is one of the largest complexes in India. The Central Hall is described as most elegant and majestic hall with ornamental Teakwood-Rosewood panelling. The older Assembly was located within State Secretariat complex which was reconverted into Legislature museum, after commissioning new complex in 1998 May 22 (
K. R. Narayanan
Kocheril Raman Narayanan (27 October 1921 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the 9th vice president of India, Vice President of India from 1992 to 1997 and 10th President of India fr ...
).
15th Kerala Legislative Assembly
Speakers of the Kerala Legislative Assembly
Source:
Composition
The Assembly consists of 140 Members known as Members of Legislative Assembly- MLA representing each constituency.
The qualifications needed to become an MLA are almost similar to the eligibility criteria for an MP. Besides being a citizen of India, the individual should not be less than 25 years of age. On a more fundamental note, a person, who is not a voter from any constituency of the state, is not eligible to become an MLA.
It's to be noted that an MLA is elected by the people of a particular constituency, and the MLA represents those electorates in the Legislative Assembly. MLAs enjoy the same position in the state as MPs on a national level.
Responsibilities of Legislators
The principal responsibility of an MLA is to represent the people's grievances and aspirations and take them up with the state government. An MLA has the power to utilise several legislative tools including 'calling attention motion' to raise issues concerning his/her constituency. It's also expected of the MLA to raise the issues with the relevant government agency and minister. As a legislator, his cardinal role will be to make optimum use of the Local Area Development (LAD) fund in a bid to develop his constituency.
Appointment of Speaker
The Speaker is the primary official of the Assembly. The Assembly elects the Speaker from among its own members. While the Speaker still represents his constituency, he remains an impartial chair of the Assembly and refrains from debating.
When a new assembly is formed, the political party/alliance which is invited by the Governor to form a government, nominates one among them as Pro-term Speaker. The Pro-Term speaker swears in front of Governor and opens the new assembly's first session.
He oversees swearing-in ceremony of all legislators at the assembly hall and then becomes the returning officer for the Speaker Election.
The Leader of the House,
Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
presents a motion for speaker election and nominates one among his party/alliance for Speaker position.
The Leader of Opposition supports the motion and nominates one among them as speaker position. The Pro-term speaker then asks whether anyone else wish to contest for speaker post. If any application received, it shall also be enlisted for election.
Based on motion, the pro-term speaker will order for an election and Legislative secretary will arrange an election at the floor of the assembly. The election will be closed affair with each member casting a secret vote on a ballot paper. The results will be counted by Legislative Secretary in front of representatives from both Ruling and Opposition parties.
Accordingly, the pro-term speaker announces the new speaker and both leaders of assembly escort the new speaker to Speaker Dias to take charge of the post.
A similar election is conducted to appoint Deputy Speaker who shall take the office in absence of the speaker.
Officials
The speaker is assisted by Legislative Secretariat. The head of Secretariat is Legislative Secretary. The Legislative secretary is the Executive chief of the Assembly and reports only to Speaker and house directly.
The Legislative secretary is supported by 2 Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries. There are under-secretaries for each committee topic and officers in charge.
The Chief Curator manages the entire house activities including housekeeping, maintenance and safety measures. The Chief Editor manages an editorial team to draft questions raised by public and legislators as well as manages answers notes, legislative records, executive orders and archival matters. The Chief Librarian manages the Central Library and Legislative Research cell of Niyamasabha.
Security
From days of Monarchy
Kerala Police
The Kerala Police is the law enforcement agency for the Indian state of Kerala. Kerala Police has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The motto of the force is "Mridhu Bhave Dhrida Kruthye" which means "Soft in Temperamen ...
were not allowed inside Niyamasabha as a matter of enforcing legislative independence. The Niyamasabha has its own security force called Watch and Ward, distinguished by its white uniforms who reports to the Hon'ble Speaker or the Secretary of the Assembly. Its headed by Chief Marshall who is in the rank of
Superintendent of Police
Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...
.
The Watch and ward control the security of entire Assembly area as well as nearby Legislative Hostel.
Committees
Statutory Committee
The Niyamasabha consists of following committees which are statutory in nature and cannot be disbanded, though the members do change.
1. Business Advisory Committee (BAC)
The BAC is the primary committee to decide the agendas to be listed in each session of the assembly. As a convention, the opposition leader will be the head of the committee with leaders of each parliamentary party subjected to a maximum of 8 members. Speaker of the house is a permanent invitee to this committee.
2. Committee on Environment
3. Committee on Estimates
4. Committee on Government Assurances
5. Committee on Local Fund Accounts
6. Committee on Official Language
7. Committee on Papers Laid on the Table
8. Committee on Petitions
9. Committee on Private Members' Bills and Resolutions
10. Committee on Privileges and Ethics
11. Committee on Public Accounts
12. Committee on Public Undertakings
13. Committee on Subordinate Legislation
14. Committee on the Welfare of Backward Class Communities
15. Committee on the Welfare of Fishermen and Allied Workers
16. Committee on the Welfare of Non-resident Keralites
17. Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
18. Committee on the Welfare of Senior Citizens
19. Committee on the Welfare of Women, Children and Physically Handicapped
20. Committee on the Welfare of Youth and Youth Affairs
21. House Committee
22. Library Advisory Committee
23. Rules Committee
Subject Committee
Apart from the statutory committee, the assembly has a subject committee for each Department of Government. Though they are not statutory in nature, its established by the house on regular basis to monitor and control executive decisions of each department when a specific bill intended to make into a legislation comes before assembly. Normally when a bill is presented and amendments or disputes arise, the bills are sent to a subject committee specifically formed such departmental activity.
As per Kerala Legislature Rules, the following committees are regularly established in the house.
1. Subject Committee - I:- Departments of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries
2. Subject Committee - II:- Land Revenue, Land usage, wetland protection, Endowments and Devaswom
3. Subject Committee - III:- Water Resources, Irrigation projects and Dam safety
4. Subject Committee - IV:- Industry and Minerals
5. Subject Committee - V:- Public Works, Transport & Communications
6. Subject Committee - VI:- Education
7. Subject Committee - VII:- Power, Labor and Labor Welfare
8. Subject Committee - VIII:- Economic Affairs
9. Subject Committee - IX:- Local Administration, Rural Development and Housing
10. Subject Committee - X:- Forest, Environment and Tourism
11. Subject Committee - XI:- Food, Civil Supplies and Co-operation
12. Subject Committee - XII:- Health and Family Welfare
13. Subject Committee - XIII:- Social Service
14. Subject Committee - XIV:- Home and Security Affairs
Ad-Hoc Committee
Time-to-time, the assembly can form an ad-hoc committee for business as laid by a motion passed by the house.
See also
*
Sree Moolam Popular Assembly
The Sree Moolam Popular Assembly in the erstwhile state of Travancore was the first popularly elected legislature in the history of India.
Its predecessor legislative council was formed in Travancore in 1888 with eight appointed members. Sri Mu ...
*
2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election
The 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election was held in Kerala on 6 April 2021 to elect 140 members to the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly. The results were declared on 2 May.
The election saw the incumbent Left Democratic Front (LDF) reta ...
*
2019 Kerala Legislative Assembly by-elections
*
2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly election
The 2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly election was held on 16 May 2016 to elect 140 MLAs to the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly. Voter turnout was 77.53%, up from 75.12% in the previous election. The result was declared on 19 May 2016. The Left ...
*
2011 Kerala Legislative Assembly election
The thirteenth Kerala legislative assembly election was held on 13 April 2011 to elect members representing 140 constituencies in Kerala. Election results were released on 13 May 2011. The election, whose results were released on 13 May 2011, ...
References
Legislators up to 2006* http://klaproceedings.niyamasabha.org
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Kerala Lok Sabha Election 2019 Results Website
niyamasabha.orgKerala Assembly Election 2016 WebsiteElection Databaseklaproceedings.niyamasabha.org
{{Authority control
State legislatures of India
1957 establishments in Kerala
Unicameral legislatures