Dissolution of parliament/assembly (dissolving govt.?): All you need to know

We often get to listen that "government has been dissolved..!!", "state govt. will get dissolved..!!" and  "Lok Sabha will be dissolved" etc. in this piece of content let’s see what actually dissolution of parliament/assembly is? And when it’s done.

Note: This post is for beginners who are learning Indian Polity or want to know when the dissolution is done and how is it done?

First of all, the dissolution of govt./assembly/Lokasabha means terminating membership of all the lower house members of parliament (or assembly in state), according to the need.

Second thing you must know about is that only lower house of any government can be dissolved with after crossing certain limits. Here lower house refers to Lok Sabha in center and that in bicameral state government is Vidana Sabha(or Legislative assembly).

Other fact to know here is that the Rajya Sabha and upper house of bicameral state govt. cannot be dissolved hence it is called permanent house of the parliament and bicameral assembly respectively.

QUICK FACTS..!! Bicameral government: It is basically a government with two separate assemblies or two separate houses, naming lower house and upper house. In Indian parliament we have bicameral system and in our states we generally have unicameral government except in 7 states with bicameral govt. Those are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Telagana.  Names of houses, In center lower house- Lok Sabha upper house- Rajya sabha In state it is lower house- Legislative assembly (Vidana Sabha) upper house- Legislative council (Vidana Parisad) The upper house is generally solid body and is never dissolved. Only 1/3 of house will get retired for every 2 years and refilled.

In below sections let’s see what the situations are and when the lower houses are dissolved.

Lok Sabha dissolution:

First of all, this dissolution can be done only by President with or without cabinet’s suggestions.

The dissolution of Lok Sabha takes place under two main consequences.

Those are,

1)    After completion of tenure of Lok Sabha (ie. 5 years).

point to be known: while the tenure of Lok Sabha can be increased by President during emergency

And

    2) When leader of ruling party loses his majority support

Early dissolution can also be done with the suggestion by cabinets chaired by Prime Minister

President conducts dissolution on the basis of provision given to him in article 85(2) of Indian constitution.

Assembly or lower assembly dissolution:

Similar to Lok Sabha the assembly/Vidhan Sabha can also be dissolved in similar situations,

       1) With end of tenure of the house (i.e. 5 years)

and

       2) Governor has to be satisfied with the instability of the government

President dissolves assembly( on recommendation by governor) on the basis of provision given to him in article 356 and article 365 of Indian constitution.

Article 356 is famously known as presidents rule/state emergency. This in imposed if governance of a state cannot be carried in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.(basically when discrepancy/instability occurs in the state governance)

QUICK FACTS..!! President's rule/state emergency The president’s rule is implacable in any state when there is failure in constitutional machinery in the state (as mentioned in article 356). The failures are generally failure to form majority during government formation or failure to maintain state’s legislature/execution/financial items per the constitutional provisions by the state government. Hence, it is also called as “constitutional emergency” Similar to national emergency after the president’s rule proclamation it has to be approved by both the houses of parliament but unlike national emergency the approval has to be done within two months. To read more about emergency and state emergency CLICK HERE

The assembly can be dissolved on the basis of article 365, if the state government fails to comply the orders or rules or guidelines given by center den president can take hold of the state imposing article 365.

In fact Chief Minister of India also can suggest governor for early dissolution just like Prime minister does to President for dissolution of Lok sabha.

QUICK FACTS..!! S R Bommai Vs Union of India case (1994): S R Bommai was chief minister of Karnataka between August 13, 1988 and April 21, 1989. The government with his leadership was dissolved on grounds of article 356. It was imposed due to lack of majority due to some momentary discrepancy in the coalition. Governor P. Venkatasubbaiah suggested President to call for state emergency and refused to give Bommai an opportunity to test his majority in the Assembly. Following it lower house has been dissolved. Later this imposition was challenged by S R Bommai at Supreme Court. After considering scope of misuse of article 356 after a course of five years historic decision was given on March 11, 1994. Judgment was given by a bench consist of 9 judges. This landmark case made few points clear that the presidents rules proclamation has to be approved by both the houses of parliament and only governor’s opinion about non confidence is not final fact to take decision it has to tested in the assembly,, and of course it has opened a door of challenging the decision if it found to be illogical.

I hope your this post has helped you to clarify facts, If you have any query/suggestion/feedback please comment down below.