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Punjab Legislative Assembly
16th Punjab Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Established	1952
Preceded by	Interim East Punjab Assembly
Leadership
Speaker	Kultar Singh Sandhwan, AAP since 21 March 2022
Deputy Speaker	Jai Krishan Singh, AAP since 30 June 2022
Leader of the House (Chief Minister)	Bhagwant Mann, AAP since 16 March 2022
Deputy Leader of the House (Cabinet Minister)	Harpal Singh Cheema, AAP since 21 March 2022
Minister of Legislative Affairs	Ravjot Singh, AAP since 23 September 2024
Leader of the Opposition	Partap Singh Bajwa, INC since 9 April 2022
Deputy Leader of Opposition	Aruna Chaudhary, INC since 3 September 2024
Structure
Seats	117
Political groups	Government (94)   AAP (94) Official Opposition (16)   INC (16) Other opposition (7)   SAD (3)   BJP (2)   BSP (1)   IND (1)
Length of term	5 years; renewable
Elections
Voting system	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.

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.

Sixteenth Assembly

In the Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly, 92 members of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party form the treasury benches. The main opposition party in the assembly is Indian National Congress with 18 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.

History

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. 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.

Leaders

Title	Name	Portrait	Since
Constitutional Posts
Governor	Gulab Chand Kataria		30 July 2024
Speaker	Kultar Singh Sandhwan		21 March 2022
Deputy speaker	Jai Krishan Singh		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

Committees

List of committees and chairpersons for the term 2022-2023.

Composition

Seat Share

By alliance and party

Alliance		Party		Seats		Legislative Party Leader	Bench
				Won	Change
	Aam Aadmi Party			94	74	Bhagwant Singh Mann	94		Government
	Indian National Congress			16	61	Partap Singh Bajwa	16		Opposition
	SAD+		Shiromani Akali Dal	3	12	Manpreet Singh Ayali	6		Others
			Bahujan Samaj Party	1	1	Nachhatar Pal
	NDA		Bharatiya Janata Party	2	1	Ashwani Kumar Sharma
	Independents			1	1	Rana Inder Partap Singh
Total				117			117

By constituency

Past election results

• ^ - 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

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

1. Two members were suspended by congress because of their anti-party activities. These are Sandeep Jakhar and Vikramjit Chaudhary, 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.
2. One of the three SAD MLAs, Sukhwinder Sukhi joined AAP on 14 August 2024. As per Anti-defection law his membership will be decided by Speaker of Punjab Assembly.

References

1. ^ "Congress suspends Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar for 'anti-party' activities". Hindustan Times. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
2. "Congress suspends Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary for anti-party activities". Indian Express. 25 April 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
3. Punjab lawyer sends notice to banga mla seeks his resignation for defection from sad to aap.
4. No resignation yet banga mla sukhi in wait and watch mode.
5. "Punjab Legislative Assembly". legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
6. "Kerala Government – Legislature". Kerala Niyamasabha. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
7. "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. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
8. "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.
9. 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.
10. "AAP nominates party MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan as next Punjab assembly speaker". Hindustan Times. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
11. "Jai Krishan Singh Rouri is new Deputy Speaker of Punjab assembly". The Indian Express. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
12. "Punjab speaker appoints heads of House committees". Hindustan Times. 22 May 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
13. "Committees". punjabassembly.nic.in. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
14. "Punjab Results Live". results.eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
15. Bhagwant Mann elected leader of legislative party leader
16. SAD appoints its new leader of legislative party
17. "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.

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