Assam may have bicameral legislature

GUWAHATI - Assam may soon have a bicameral legislature with all the 126 members of the state assembly Saturday endorsing a proposal moved by the ruling Congress government.

The proposal for a 42-member upper house or the Legislative Council is being sent to the central government for seeking parliamentary approval.

“This is a long-pending demand by various quarters for an upper house in the state assembly and we are happy that we could formally move the central government for creation of a Legislative Council,” parliamentary affairs minister Bharat Chandra Narah said.

The 42 members would mostly comprise of representatives from various small ethnic groups and communities whose members have never got represented in the assembly.

One-third of the 42 members will be nominated by the governor and the remaining 28 elected by the 126 members of the state assembly.

“All the political parties are unanimous about the need for a two-tier legislature in the state and the issue was discussed in the assembly where political parties cutting across party lines supported the idea,” Congress legislator Abdul Khaleq told IANS.

Setting up of an upper house was promised by the Congress in its manifesto during the last assembly elections and after coming to power, a cabinet sub-committee was set up to look into its various aspects.

Six states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir — have an upper house which is called Legislative Council or Vidhan Parishad.