Bihar Legislature

Bihar Legislature

Bihar Vidhan Mandal
Bihar Legislature ; Bihar Vidhan Mandal
	Emblem of Bihar
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Bihar Legislative Council (Upper house); Bihar Legislative Assembly (Lower house)
History
Founded	26 January 1950 (74 years ago)
Leadership
Governor of Bihar	Rajendra Arlekar ; since 17 February 2023
Leader of the House (Chief Minister)	Nitish Kumar ; since 28 January 2024
Structure
Seats	318 ; 75 Members of Legislative Council; 243 Members of Bihar Legislative Assembly;
Bihar Legislative Council political groups	Government (49); NDA (50) BJP (24); JD(U) (24); HAM (S) (1); RLJP (1); Opposition (18); MGB (18) RJD (13); INC (4); CPI (1); Others (6) IND (6); Vacant (1) Vacant (1);
Bihar Legislative Assembly political groups	Government (134) NDA (134) BJP (85); JD(U) (44); HAM(S) (4); IND (4); ; Official Opposition (107) I.N.D.I.A (106) RJD (74); INC (17); CPI(ML)L (11); CPI (2); CPI(M) (2); Others (1) AIMIM (1); Vacant (2) Vacant (2);
Elections
Bihar Legislative Council voting system	Single transferable vote
Bihar Legislative Assembly voting system	First-past-the-post
Last Bihar Legislative Council election	2022 Bihar Legislative Council elections
Last Bihar Legislative Assembly election	2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election
Next Bihar Legislative Assembly election	November 2025
Meeting place
	Bihar State Assembly, Patna, Bihar, India
Website
	Bihar Legislative Council; Bihar Legislative Assembly

The Bihar Legislature (IAST: Bihar Vidhan Mandal) is the supreme legislative body of the state of Bihar. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Governor of Bihar and two houses, The Bihar Legislative Council (Bihar Vidhan Parishad) and The Bihar Legislative Assembly (Bihar Vidhan Sabha). The governor in his role as head of the legislature has full powers to summon and prorogue either house of legislature or to dissolve the Legislative Assembly. The governor can exercise these powers only upon the advice of the Chief minister and his ministry.

Those elected or nominated (by the governor) to either house of legislature are referred to as Member of the Legislative Assembly (India) (MLAs). The Member of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected by the Bihari public voting in single-member districts and the Member of the Legislative Council are elected by the MLAs, panchayat, teachers, graduates and local governing body by proportional representation. The Legislature has a sanctioned strength of 243 in the Legislative Assembly and 75 in the Legislative Council including 12 nominees from the expertise of different fields of literature, art, science, and social service. The Assembly meets at Bihar Legislative House in Patna.