A Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha (

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

: MP) is the representative of a legislative constituency in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

; the lower house of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

. Members of parliament of Lok Sabha are chosen by direct

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...

on the basis of the

adult suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

. The maximum permitted strength of members of parliament in the Lok Sabha is 550. This includes the maximum 530 members to represent the constituencies and states and up to 20 members to represent the union territories (both chosen by

direct elections Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...

). Between 1952 and 2020, two seats were reserved for members of the

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The '' Oxford English ...

community. The current elected strength of the Lok Sabha is 543. The party—or coalition of parties—having a majority in the Lok Sabha chooses the Prime Minister of India.

History

The first instance of member of parliament equivalent in India dates back to 9 December 1946, the day

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

was formed with the purpose of drafting a constitution for India. As opposed to be elected on the basis of

, the Constituent Assembly of India consisted of indirectly elected representatives and were not categorised between

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

and

. Muslims and Sikhs were given special representation as minorities. The Constituent Assembly of India took 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to draft the constitution for

independent India Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

and was dissolved in 1949. On 26 January 1950, the

Indian constitution The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...

came into force and the first general elections (under the new constitution) were held in 1951–1952. The

1st Lok Sabha The First Lok Sabha was constituted on 17 April 1952 after India's first general election. The 1st Lok Sabha lasted its full tenure of five years and was dissolved on 4 April 1957. The First Session of this Lok Sabha commenced on 13 May 1952. ...

was constituted on 17 April 1952 and had 489

constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

, thereby first set of elected members of parliament of

in India.

Eligibility criteria

A person must satisfy all following conditions to be qualified to become a member of parliament of the Lok Sabha; * Must be a citizen of India. * Must not be less than 25 years of age. * Must be a sound person * Must not be convicted by the court with imprisonment of two Or more years * Must be a voter for any

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

in India. * Candidate of a recognised

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

needs one proposer from his/her constituency for his/her nomination. * An independent candidate needs ten proposers. * Candidates are required to make a security deposit of .

Disqualification grounds

A person would be ineligible for being a Member of the Lok Sabha if the person; * Holds any office of profit under 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, ...

(other than an office permitted by Parliament of India by law). * Is of unsound mind. * Is an

insolvent In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

. * Has ceased to be a citizen of India. * Is so disqualified by any law made by the Indian parliament. * Is so disqualified on the ground of defection. * Has been

convicted In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of " not proven", which is co ...

, among other things, for promoting enmity between different groups. * Has been convicted for offence of bribery. * Has been punished for preaching and practising social crimes such as

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

, or

sati Sati or SATI may refer to: Entertainment * ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi * ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike *Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer *Sati, a character in ''Th ...

. * Has been convicted for an offence and sentenced to imprisonment of more than two years. * Has been dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the state (in case of a government servant).

Term

The term of a member of parliament of Lok Sabha (dissolved) is five years from the date appointment for its first meeting. During a state of emergency, the term however can be extended by the

by law for a period not exceeding one year at a time. After the state of emergency ends, the extension cannot exceed beyond a period of six months.

Responsibilities of members of parliament

Broad responsibilities of the members of parliament of Lok Sabha are; *

Legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

responsibility: To pass Laws of India in the Lok Sabha. *

Oversight Oversight may refer to: Governance *Regulation – rulemaking *Separation of powers in state governance (checks and balances) - the concept of separate branches of government or agencies exercising authority over one another *Checks and control ...

responsibility: To ensure that the executive (i.e. government) performs its duties satisfactorily. *Representative responsibility: To represent the views and aspirations of the people of their constituency in the Parliament of India (Lok Sabha). *

Power of the purse The power of the purse is the ability of one group to manipulate and control the actions of another group by withholding funding, or putting stipulations on the use of funds. The power of the purse can be used positively (e.g. awarding extra fun ...

responsibility: To approve and oversee the revenues and expenditures proposed by the government. * The

Union Council of Ministers The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...

, who are also members of parliament have an additional responsibility of the executive as compared to those who are not in the Council of Ministers.

Salary, allowances and entitlements

India paid to its 543 Lok Sabha members in salaries and expenses over 2015, or just over per month per member of parliament in including pensions to dependents of ex MPs . The Salary, allowances and pension of Member of the Lok Sabha is governed by the Members of Parliament Act, 1954. The act is in pursuance to the constitutional provisions where article 106 of the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

provides that the members of either House of Parliament shall be entitled to receive such salaries and allowances as may from time to time be determined by

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

by law. The rules governing salaries, allowances and facilities such as medical, housing, telephone facilities, daily allowance etc... is looked after by a joint committee of both the houses (

and the

). The committee is constituted from time to time after consultation with the Government of India.

Strength

Article 81 of the

1949 has specified maximum strength of members of parliament in the Lok Sabha to be 552. The number of members of parliament is distributed among the States in such a way that the ratio between the number of seats allotted to each State and the population of the State is, so far as practicable, the same for all States. Out of the maximum permitted strength, *Not more than 530 members to be chosen by direct

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

from territorial constituencies in the Indian states. *Not more than 20 members to represent the union territories, chosen in such manner as

may by law provide. *Total permitted maximum strength of 550 members.

Members of the Lok Sabha

Members of the lower house of the Indian Parliament (

) were elected in the

Indian general election, 2019 General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and voter ...

held in April–May 2019. The total strength of the

17th Lok Sabha The 17th Lok Sabha was formed by the members elected in the 2019 Indian general election. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India. Counting started off ...

is 544, against the then-approved strength of 552.

Number of constituencies: 1951–2019

The following is a list of the number of constituencies in the Lok Sabha in each election year, beginning in 1951. The numbers do not include two seats from the

community, to which individuals were nominated by the President of India.

Anglo-Indian reservation

In January 2020, the Anglo-Indian reserved seats in the Parliament and State Legislatures of India was discontinued by the 126th Constitutional Amendment Bill of 2019, when enacted as 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019. As a result the maximum permitted strength of the Lok Sabha was reduced from 552 to 550.

References

{{Parliament of India Lok Sabha