Punjab Legislative Assembly
Punjab Legislative Assembly Punjab Vidhan Sabha | |
|---|---|
| 16th Punjab Assembly | |
.svg.png){kind=logo} | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 1952 |
| Preceded by | Interim East Punjab Assembly |
| Leadership | |
Chief Minister (Leader of the House) | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 117 |
 | |
Political groups | Government (94)
Official Opposition (16) Other Opposition (7) |
Length of term | 5 years; renewable |
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post | |
First election | 26 March 1952 |
Last election | 20 February 2022 |
Next election | 2027 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh, India | |
| Website | |
| Punjab Legislative Assembly | |
| Constitution | |
| Constitution of India | |
The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 members, directly elected from 117 single-seat constituencies. The tenure of the Legislative Assembly is five years unless dissolved sooner. The Speaker of the sixteenth assembly is Kultar Singh Sandhwan. The meeting place of the Legislative Assembly since 6 March 1961 is the Vidhan Bhavan in Chandigarh.
History
In the British Raj, an Executive Council was formed under The Indian Councils Act, 1861. It was only under the Government of India Act 1919 that a Legislative Council was set up in Punjab. Later, under the Government of India Act 1935, the Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted with a membership of 175. It was summoned for the first time on 1 April 1937. In 1947, Punjab Province was partitioned into West Punjab and East Punjab and the 79-member East Punjab Legislative Assembly was formed, the forerunner of the current assembly.
After the independence of India, on 15 July 1948, eight princely states of East Punjab grouped together to form a single state, Patiala and East Punjab States Union. The Punjab State Legislature was a bicameral house in April 1952, comprising the Vidhan Sabha (lower house) and Vidhan Parishad (upper house). In 1956 that state was largely merged into Punjab, the strength of the Vidhan Parishad of the new State of Punjab was enhanced from 40 seats to 46 seats and in 1957, it was increased to 51. Punjab was trifurcated in 1966 to form Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab. The Vidhan Parishad was reduced to 40 seats and the Vidhan Sabha grew by 50 seats to 104 seats. On 1 January 1970, the Vidhan Parishad was abolished leaving the state with a unicameral legislature.[6]
Legislature
The legislature comprises the governor and the Punjab Legislative Assembly, which is the highest political organ in the state. The governor has the power to summon the assembly or to close the same. All members of the legislative assembly are directly elected, normally once in every five years by the eligible voters who are above 18 years of age. The current assembly consists of 117 elected members. The elected members select one of its own members as its chairperson who is called the speaker of the assembly. The speaker is assisted by the deputy speaker who is also elected by the members. The conduct of a meeting in the house is the responsibility of the speaker.
The main function of the assembly is to pass laws and rules. Every bill passed by the house has to be finally approved by the governor before it becomes applicable.
The normal term of the legislative assembly is five years from the date appointed for its first meeting.[7]
Sixteenth Assembly
In the Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly, 94 members of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party form the treasury benches. The main opposition party in the assembly is Indian National Congress with 14 seats. The other parties which are in opposition are the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and independents. AAP MLA, Kultar Singh Sandhwan was announced as the speaker of the assembly.[8]
History
Incumbent Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took the oath of office on 16 March at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Bhagat Singh. Inderbir Singh Nijjar took the oath as Protem Speaker. On 17 March Nijjar administered the oath of office to all the 117 legislators of the Sixteenth Punjab Legislative assembly.[9] Other 10 cabinet ministers of the Mann ministry, took oath on 19 March.
On 22 June 2022, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan announced that the legislators will get answers on all issues that they raise during the Assembly debates. The answers would be provided during the Zero Hour. This was done for the first time in the history of Punjab Assembly.[10]
Leaders
| Title | Name | Portrait | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Constitutional Posts | |||
| Governor | Gulab Chand Kataria | 
|
30 July 2024
|
| Speaker | Kultar Singh Sandhwan[11] | 
|
21 March 2022 |
| Deputy speaker | Jai Krishan Singh[12] | 30 June 2022 | |
| Leader of the House (Chief Minister) |
Bhagwant Mann | 
|
16 March 2022 |
| Leader of Opposition | Pratap Singh Bajwa | 
|
9 April 2022 |
| Political posts | |||
| Leader of AAP legislature party | Bhagwant Mann |
|
16 March 2022 |
| Leader of INC legislature party | Pratap Singh Bajwa |
|
9 April 2022 |
| Leader of SAD legislature party | Manpreet Singh Ayali | 
|
April 2022 |
| Leader of BJP legislature party | Ashwani Kumar Sharma | April 2022 | |
| Leader of BSP legislature party | Nachhatar Pal | April 2022 | |
Committees
List of committees and chairpersons for the term 2022–2023.[13]
Composition
By alliance and party
| Alliance | Party | Seats | Legislative
Party Leader |
Bench | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won [15] | Change[d] | ||||||||
| Aam Aadmi Party | 95 |  75
|
Bhagwant Singh Mann[16] | 94 | Government | ||||
| Indian National Congress | 15 |  62
|
Partap Singh Bajwa | 16 | Main Opposition | ||||
| Shiromani Akali Dal | 2 | 13
|
Manpreet Singh Ayali[17] | 7 | Other Opposition | ||||
| NDA | Bharatiya Janata Party | 2 | 1
|
Ashwani Kumar Sharma | |||||
| Bahujan Samaj Party | 1 | 1
|
Nachhatar Pal | ||||||
| Independents | 1 | 1
|
Rana Inder Partap Singh | ||||||
| Total | 117 | 117 | |||||||
By constituency
Past election results
| Years | Others | Total | Majority | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INC | SAD | AAP | BJP | IND | ||||
| 1952 | 96 | 13 | ~ | ~ | 9 | 8 | 126 | 64 |
| 1957 | 120 | ^ | 13 | 21 | 154 | 78 | ||
| 1962 | 90 | 19 | 18 | 27 | ||||
| 1967 | 48 | ^ | 9 | 47 | 104 | 53 | ||
| 1969 | 38 | 43 | 4 | 17 | ||||
| 1972 | 66 | 24 | 3 | 11 | ||||
| 1977 | 17 | 58 | 2 | 40 | 117 | 59 | ||
| 1980 | 63 | 37 | 1 | 2 | 14 | |||
| 1985 | 32 | 73 | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||
| 1992 | 87 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 20 | |||
| 1997 | 14 | 75 | 18 | 6 | 4 | |||
| 2002 | 62 | 41 | 3 | 9 | 2 | |||
| 2007 | 44 | 49 | 19 | 5 | 0 | |||
| 2012 | 46 | 56 | 12 | 3 | 0 | |||
| 2017 | 77 | 15 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2022 | 18 | 3 | 92 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
- ^ - Party didn't contest election
- ~ - Party didn't exist
- - Green color box indicates the party/parties who formed the government
- - Red color box indicates the official opposition party
List of Punjab Legislative Assemblies
| Punjab Provincial Assembly (1937-1947) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly | Tenure | Leader of the House | Premier | Party formed government | Note | ||
| First sitting | Date of dissolution | ||||||
| 1 | 5 April 1937 | 19 March 1945 | Sikandar Hayat Khan | Unionist Party | Assembly tenure extended due to World War II | ||
| Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana | Assembly dissolved to conduct fresh and Impartial election | ||||||
| 2 | 21 March 1946 | 4 July 1947 | Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana | Assembly dissolved since government resigned against Partition | |||
| Punjab Legislative Assembly (1947–present) | |||||||
| Assembly | Tenure | Leader of the House | Chief Minister | Party formed government | Note | ||
| First sitting | Date of dissolution | ||||||
| Interim | 1 November 1947 | 20 June 1951 | Gopi Chand Bhargava | Indian National Congress | Interim Assembly | ||
| Bhim Sen Sachar | |||||||
| Gopi Chand Bhargava | |||||||
| 1st | 3 May 1952 | 31 March 1957 | Bhim Sen Sachar | ||||
| Partap Singh Kairon | |||||||
| 2nd | 24 April 1957 | 1 March 1962 | Partap Singh Kairon | ||||
| 3rd | 13 March 1962 | 28 February 1967 | Partap Singh Kairon | Assembly under suspension from 5 July 1966 to 1 November 1966 | |||
| Partap Singh Kairon | Gopi Chand Bhargava | ||||||
| Ram Kishan | |||||||
| Ram Kishan | Gurmukh Singh Musafir | ||||||
| 4th | 20 March 1967 | 23 August 1968 | Gurnam Singh | Akali Dal - Sant Fateh Singh | Assembly dissolved prematurely | ||
| Lachhman Singh Gill | Punjab Janta Party | ||||||
| 5th | 13 March 1969 | 14 June 1971 | Gurnam Singh | Shiromani Akali Dal | Assembly dissolved prematurely | ||
| Parkash Singh Badal | |||||||
| 6th | 21 March 1972 | 30 April 1977 | Zail Singh | Indian National Congress | Assembly tenure extended by one month due to Emergency | ||
| 7th | 30 June 1977 | 17 February 1980 | Parkash Singh Badal | Shiromani Akali Dal | Assembly dissolved prematurely | ||
| 8th | 23 June 1980 | 26 June 1985 | Darbara Singh | Indian National Congress | Assembly suspended from 6 October 1983 and later dissolved due to Insurgency on 26 June 1985. | ||
| 9th | 14 October 1985 | 6 March 1988 | Surjit Singh Barnala | Shiromani Akali Dal | Assembly suspended prematurely due to Insurgency on 11 June 1987 and later on dissolved on 6 March 1988. | ||
| 10 | 16 March 1992 | 11 February 1997 | Beant Singh | Indian National Congress | - | ||
| Harcharan Singh Brar | |||||||
| Rajinder Kaur Bhattal | |||||||
| 11 | 3 March 1997 | 26 February 2002 | Parkash Singh Badal | Shiromani Akali Dal | |||
| 12 | 21 March 2002 | 27 February 2007 | Amarinder Singh | Indian National Congress | |||
| 13 | 1 March 2007 | 6 March 2012 | Parkash Singh Badal | Shiromani Akali Dal | |||
| 14 | 19 March 2012 | 11 March 2017 | Parkash Singh Badal | ||||
| 15 | 24 March 2017 | 11 March 2022 | Amarinder Singh | Indian National Congress | |||
| Charanjit Singh Channi | |||||||
| 16 | 17 March 2022 | Incumbent | Bhagwant Mann | Aam Aadmi Party | |||
See also
- PEPSU
- Interim East Punjab Assembly
- Elections in Punjab
- List of governors of Punjab (India)
- List of constituencies of Punjab Legislative Assembly
- List of deputy chief ministers of Punjab, India
- List of speakers of the Punjab Legislative Assembly
- List of leaders of the opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly
Notes
- ^ One of the AAP MLA, Kuwar Vijay Partap Singh[1] is suspended by Party from his anti-party activities. Thus he is not bound by the decisions of the legislative party in assembly, however, officially he is still the member of the Aam Aadmi Party as his party affiliation is yet to be decided by the speaker.
- ^ Two members were suspended by congress because of their anti-party activities. These are Sandeep Jakhar[2] and Vikramjit Chaudhary,[3] thus they are not bound by the decisions of the legislative party in assembly, however, officially they are still member of the congress as their party affiliation is yet to be decided by the speaker.
- ^ One of the three SAD MLAs, Sukhwinder Sukhi joined AAP on 14 August 2024.[4] As per Anti-defection law his membership will be decided by Speaker of Punjab Assembly.[5]
- ^ As comapre with previous result of 2017
References
- ^ "AAP suspended Kuwar Vijay Partap Singh for alleged anti-party activities". Times of India. 29 June 2025. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
- ^ a b "Congress suspends Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar for 'anti-party' activities". Hindustan Times. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
- ^ "Congress suspends Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary for anti-party activities". Indian Express. 25 April 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
- ^ Punjab lawyer sends notice to banga mla seeks his resignation for defection from sad to aap.
- ^ Punjab speaker seeks SAD MLA Sukhi's responsem on July 29.
- ^ "Punjab Legislative Assembly". legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
- ^ "Kerala Government – Legislature". Kerala Niyamasabha. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ^ "Punjab Cabinet swearing-in Live Updates: From uprooting corruption to tackling drug addiction in Punjab — newly-inducted Ministers set targets". The Indian Express. 19 March 2022. Archived from the original on 19 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- ^ "In Punjab Cabinet, Bhagwant Mann Keeps Home, Harpal Cheema Gets Finance". NDTV.com. 21 March 2022. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
- ^ Service, Tribune News (22 June 2022). "All Zero Hour questions to be answered: Punjab Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
- ^ "AAP nominates party MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan as next Punjab assembly speaker". Hindustan Times. 18 March 2022. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Jai Krishan Singh Rouri is new Deputy Speaker of Punjab assembly". The Indian Express. 30 June 2022. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
- ^ "Punjab speaker appoints heads of House committees". Hindustan Times. 22 May 2022. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ "Committees". punjabassembly.nic.in. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ "Punjab Results Live". results.eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ^ "Bhagwant Mann elected leader of legislative party leader". Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ^ "SAD appoints its new leader of legislative party". Archived from the original on 8 May 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ^ "Congress suspends Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary for anti-party activities". Indian Express. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
External links
- "Record of all Punjab Assembly Elections". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
