Bihar Legislature

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.