A permanent upper House of 100: the second chamber of the Uttar Pradesh legislature

Background

Uttar Pradesh is one of a small number of States in India whose legislature has two Houses rather than one. Article 168 of the Constitution provides for a Legislature in every State, and says that where there are two Houses, one is known as the Legislative Council, or Vidhan Parishad, and the other as the Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha. Hearing Lal Bihari Yadav's petition on the withdrawal of his recognition as leader of the opposition in that House, the Allahabad High Court set out these provisions and recorded that six States have a Legislative Council: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. The Legislative Council of Uttar Pradesh is a permanent House, which means it is not dissolved as a whole. It consists of 100 members, of whom 90 are elected and 10 are nominated. The Council meets at the Vidhan Bhawan in Lucknow. Recognition of the leader of the opposition in that House is dealt with under the Uttar Pradesh State Legislature (Members, Emoluments and Pension) Act, 1980.