Bengal to table proposal for setting up Legislative Council

MP | 28 Jun 2021| KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government will table the proposal to reintroduce Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) in the forthcoming Budget Session. 

This is the first session of the state Assembly of the newly formed government. Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee said: "The proposal for reintroduction of Vidhan Parishad will be tabled in the forthcoming session of the Assembly". 

After the proposal is passed, it will be first sent to the Governor for his consent and then it will go to the President. 

It needs mention that the Mamata Banerjee government had earlier tabled the proposal in the state Assembly for setting up Vidhan Parishad after coming to power in 2011. The proposal was accepted and a committee was also set up in this regard. The committee had given its report, but it was not tabled in the House. 

Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee had stated about reviving the Vidhan Parishad while addressing a press conference during the announcement of the list of candidates ahead of the Assembly polls. "Purnedu Bose and Amit Mitra could not be made candidates as Bose will be busy with party activities and Mitra is not well. We propose to set up Vidhan Parishad to accommodate them," she had said. 

At present, six states in the country - Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka - have Legislative Council. West Bengal Legislative Council was set up in 1952 and got abolished in 1969 during the time of United Front government. The Parliament of India passed the West Bengal Legislative Council (Abolition) Act 1969 for abolishing the Legislative Council with effect from August 1 in 1969. 

Vidhan Parishad was reintroduced in Andhra Pradesh in 2007. It was abolished in the state in 1985. The Vidhan Parishad is the Upper House of the Legislative Assembly. The tenure of the members is for six years. One-third of its members retire after two years. 

The size of the Legislative Council cannot be more than one-third of the membership of the state Legislative Assembly. Its size cannot be less than 40 members. One-third of the members of the Legislative Council are elected by the members of the municipalities, Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samities. One-third is elected by the MLAs while one-sixth is nominated by the Governor. The Vidhan Parishad has no role in passing the money bill. 

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