Parliament of India

The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. Parliament is composed of the President of India, the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People).

• Parliament of India was designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker.
• The building has twelve gates among which Gate No. 1 on the Sansad Marg is the main gate.
• India's Parliament is bicameral; Rajya Sabha is the upper house and Lok Sabha is the lower house.
• The two houses meet in separate chambers of Sansad Bhavan, located on Sansad Marg (Parliament Street) in New Delhi.
• MPs of Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of the State Legislative Assemblies.

Loksabha

• Lok Sabha has members from 545 parliamentary constituencies, two are appointed by the President of India.
• The Constitution provides that the maximum strength of the House be 552 members.
• It has a term of five years.
• To be eligible for membership in the Lok Sabha, a person must be a citizen of India and must be 25 years of age or older.
• Up to 530 members represent of the territorial constituencies in States, up to 20 members represent the Union Territories and no more than two members from Anglo-Indian community can be nominated by the President of India.

Rajya Sabha

• The Rajya Sabha is also known as "Council of States" or the upper house.
• Rajya Sabha is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution.
• Instead one third of the members retire every second year, being replaced by newly elected members.
• Each member is elected for a term of six years.
• The Rajya Sabha can have a maximum of 250 members in all.
• 238 members are to be elected from States and Union Territories(SUT) and 12 are to be nominated by the President of India.
• The minimum age for a person to become a member of Rajya Sabha is 30 years.

Session of parliament

The period during which the House meets to conduct its business is called a session. The Constitution empowers the president to summon each House at such intervals that there should not be more than a six-month gap between the two sessions. Hence the Parliament must meet at least twice a year. In India, the parliament conducts three sessions each year:

• Budget session: In February to May
• Monsoon session: In July to September
• Winter session: In November to December