State governments of India

Republic of India
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of India
Union Government Constitution of India Fundamental rights Executive: President Vice President Prime Minister Cabinet of India Parliament: Rajya Sabha Lok Sabha The Chairman The Speaker Judiciary: Supreme Court of India Chief Justice of India High Courts District Courts
Elections Election Commission: Chief Election Commissioner
Political parties National parties State parties National coalitions: Left Front National Democratic Alliance (NDA) United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
Local and state govt. Governor Vidhan Sabha Vidhan Parishad Panchayat Gram panchayat Panchayat samiti Zilla Parishad
Other countries Atlas Government of India portal

State governments in India are the governments ruling States of India and the main minsters in the state are the chief ministers. Power is divided between central government and state governments. While central government handles military, external affairs etc., the state government controls internal police security etc. Income for central govt. are through customs duty, excise tax, income tax etc., while state government income comes from sales tax (VAT), stamp duty etc.

Sarkaria Commission was set up to review the balance of power between states and the union. The centre can dissolve state government in favour of President's rule if necessary. The state of Jammu and Kashmir has higher autonomy compared to other states by Article 370.

Legislature

State governments' legislatures are bicameral in six states and unicameral in the rest. The lower house is elected with a five-year term, and one-third of the members of the upper house, in bicameral states, are elected every two years for a six-year term.

The Indian Constitution allows states to have either a unicameral or bicameral legislature. A state is said to be unicameral if it has only one house of parliament. The numbers in the brackets indicate the number of seats in the lower and upper house respectively. Most of the newer states are unicameral and only a few of the older states (6 states out of 29) still remain bicameral. In a state with a bicameral legislature, the lower house is called the Legislative Assembly or Vidhan Sabha and the upper house is called the Legislative Council or Vidhan Parishad. By law, the upper house can not be more than 1/3 the total size of the lower house but must have more than 40 seats (except in the case of the state of Jammu and Kashmir which is allowed by special legislation to have less than 40 seats in its Legislative Council.)

The upper house, Vidhan Parishad has limited legislative powers, and was primarily intended for consultation and can not hold up legislation passed by the lower house, the Vidhan Sabha for more than a few months. The Legislative Assembly is composed of members directly elected from individual constituencies while the upper house, the Legislative Council consists of members indirectly elected by the Lower House, members nominated for by the State government, and members elected from specially designated teacher's and graduate's constituencies.

Andhra Pradesh abolished its upper house in 1984, and set up a new Legislative Council following elections in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

State	Legislature type	Size
West Bengal	Unicameral	295
Tamil Nadu	Unicameral	234
Madhya Pradesh	Unicameral	231
Rajasthan	Unicameral	200
Gujarat	Unicameral	182
Orissa	Unicameral	147
Kerala	Unicameral	141
Assam	Unicameral	126
Punjab	Unicameral	117
Haryana	Unicameral	90
Chhattisgarh	Unicameral	90
Jharkhand	Unicameral	81
Himachal Pradesh	Unicameral	68
Arunachal Pradesh	Unicameral	60
Tripura	Unicameral	60
Nagaland	Unicameral	60
Manipur	Unicameral	60
Meghalaya	Unicameral	60
Goa	Unicameral	40
Mizoram	Unicameral	40
Sikkim	Unicameral	32
Uttarakhand	Unicameral	70
Pondicherry	Unicameral	30
Delhi	Unicameral	70

State	Legislature type	Size
Uttar Pradesh	Bicameral	404 + 108
Maharashtra	Bicameral	289 + 78
Bihar	Bicameral	243 + 96
Karnataka	Bicameral	224 + 75
Jammu and Kashmir	Bicameral	89 + 36
Andhra Pradesh	Bicameral	294 + 90

Politics

Main article: List of recognised political parties in India

Many regional parties and national parties are in power in states of India. Coalition cabinet exists in some states.

Executive

State executive branches are headed by governors appointed by central government president and cabinet are also members. Cabinet size can be maximum of 15% the number of legislators in lower house, the law passed during Vajpayee's central government. Police hierarchy and various other

Judiciary

State High courts have jurisdiction over the whole state, but report to the Supreme Court of India, which may override the high court's judgements and rulings.

See also

• List of current Indian chief ministers
• Principal Secretary (India)