Karnataka Assembly
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Karnataka state in southern India. Karnataka is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses are the Vidhan Sabha (lower house) and the Vidhan Parishad (upper house). The members of the Vidhana Sabha are directly elected by people through adult franchise.
There are 224 members of the Vidhana Sabha or the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka state. The state of Karnataka is divided into 224 constituencies used to elect the Legislative assembly members. Each constituency elects one member of the assembly. Members are popularly known as MLAs. The assembly is elected using the simple plurality or "first past the post" electoral system. The elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India.
The normal term of the members lasts for five years. In case of death, resignation or disqualification of a member, a by-election is conducted for constituency represented by the member. The party, or coalition which has the majority becomes the ruling party. The last legislative Assembly elections in Assam were held in May 2018.
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Karnataka state in southern India. Karnataka is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses are the Vidhan Sabha (lower house) and the Vidhan Parishad (upper house). The members of the Vidhana Sabha are directly elected by people through adult franchise.
There are 224 members of the Vidhana Sabha or the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka state. The state of Karnataka is divided into 224 constituencies used to elect the Legislative assembly members. Each constituency elects one member of the assembly. Members are popularly known as MLAs. The assembly is elected using the simple plurality or "first past the post" electoral system. The elections are conducted by the Election Commission of India.
The normal term of the members lasts for five years. In case of death, resignation or disqualification of a member, a by-election is conducted for constituency represented by the member. The party, or coalition which has the majority becomes the ruling party. The last legislative Assembly elections in Assam were held in May 2018.
SUBJECT Variables
PARTY COMPOSITION
The 15th Legislative Assembly of Karnataka formed post the elections held in May 2018 consists of 224 MLAs. The 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections led to a hung assembly since there was no party or pre-poll alliance that crossed the majority mark of 113 seats. BJP under the leadership of Yeddyurappa formed the government, based on being the single largest party of the house, despite the Congress and JD(S) post-result alliance having a majority. The Governor then gave a 15-day window for the new government to prove the majority in the legislature, which was shunned by the opposition as favoring the BJP. The Supreme court then limited the window to 3 days and then Chief minister Yeddyurappa resigned 10 minutes before the trust vote. The INC + JD(S) coalition then formed the cabinet with HD Kumarasamy as Chief minister. This coalition government lasted for 14 months before turmoil started again. 16 Legislators from the ruling coalition resigned within a span of 2 days and 2 independent MLAs switched their support to BJP. This shrunk the house majority to 105 and ruling coalition to 101, and the opposition BJP to 107. After 3 weeks of turmoil, HD Kumarasamy lost the trust vote by 100–107 in the house (held on 23 July 2019) and resigned. Afterward on 26 July 2019, B.S. Yeddiyurapa took oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka once again.
- BJP now has 120 MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly giving it a control over 54% of the total seats in the Assembly
- INC has 69 MLAs and sits in the Opposition
- All other parties and independent MLAs together account for 35 seats
Key leaders in the Assembly:
- Speaker: Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri (BJP)
- Chief Minister: Basavaraj Bommai (BJP)
- Leader of the Opposition: Siddaramaiah (INC)
MLA PROFILE
- 35% MLAs in the current Assembly have little to no education (grade 12 or below), in comparison to 34% in the previous Assembly
- 27% MLAs in the current Assembly are Graduates, in comparison to 25% in the previous Assembly.
- 33% MLAs in the current Assembly are highly qualified (professionals and above), just as much as in the previous Assembly.
- Only 4% MLAs in the current Assembly are women
- The percentage of women in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly has remained below 5% since 2008 and is amongst the lowest of all states in India.
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