3. • Who is an MLA?
• MLAs are people who are elected by voters
and who go on to become members of the
Legislative Assembly. On being elected they
may go on to form the government and
represent the people of their constituency.
4. • What is a Legislative Assembly?
• A Legislative Assembly is found in every state of
our country. All states are divided into different
constituencies. Let us take the state of Himachal
Pradesh as an example. It has been divided into 68
assembly constituencies. For each constituency,
people vote for one representative who later goes
on to become a Member of the Legislative
Assembly (MLA). These MLAs stand for elections in
the name of different political parties and
therefore, represent and belong to these parties.
5. • How do people who are MLAs become ministers or Chief Ministers?
• MLAs from political parties who have won more than half of the
constituencies in a state can be said to be in a majority. The political
party who is in majority is called the ruling party and all other members
are known as the Opposition.
• Post the elections, the MLAs from the ruling party elect their leader
who goes on to becoming the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister then
selects other MLAs as his ministers. Once that is done, the Governor of
the state appoints the Chief Minister and all other ministers.
• The Chief Minister along with his ministers are responsible for running
various government offices and ministries. They all have separate
offices. It is at the Legislative Assembly where all the MLAs, from the
ruling and opposition party meet to discuss various things. Therefore
some MLAs have dual responsibilities – one as an MLA and the other as a
minister.
6. A debate in the legislative assembly
• In the Legislative Assembly, MLAs discuss about current
problems. At this debate, MLAs can express their views and
ask questions related to the issue or give suggestions about
what the government can do to solve the problem. Those
who wish to, can respond to this. The minister then replies
to the questions and tries to assure the Assembly that
adequate steps are being taken.
• It is the responsibility of the Chief Minister and his
ministers to take decisions and run the government. We
usually learn about these decisions through various channels
such as television news, newspapers and radio. However,
decisions that are to be implemented, must has approval
from all members of the Legislative Assembly. A democracy
allows these members to ask questions, debate over an
important issue, decide where money should be spent, etc.
7. Working of the government
• The Legislative Assembly is not the only place where opinions are
expressed about the work of the government and action is demanded. A
number of newspapers, TV channels and other organisations regularly
discuss about the working of the government. In a democracy, there are
a number of ways by which people can express their views and also take
action.
• If there is a need for a change in the government’s way of working, then
it is the responsibility of the people in power like the Chief Minister and
his ministers to take necessary action. They also have to answer
questions that are asked in the Assembly and convince those people
asking questions that proper steps are taken. At the same time,
newspapers and the media widely discuss issues and the government has
to respond, for example, by holding press conferences.
• In a democracy, it is the people who elect their representatives as
Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and, thus, it is the people
who have the main authority. The ruling party members then form the
government and some members are appointed ministers. These ministers
are in charge of various departments of the government. Whatever
work is done by these departments has to be approved by the members
of the Legislative Assembly.