CDS (II) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 81 of 120

Correct — D, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Every one of the four states named has a Legislative Council, so nothing in the list is to be dropped. Six Indian states are bicameral, and these four are among them — Andhra Pradesh with 58 members, Telangana with 40, Bihar with 75 and Uttar Pradesh with 100. The other two are Karnataka with 75 and Maharashtra with 78. Both at the September 2022 exam and today the roster is the same six, so the answer has not aged.

• (a)1 only — Keeps Andhra Pradesh and throws away three states that also have Councils. It is the option for a candidate who remembers one name and stops.
• (b)1, 2 and 3 only — Drops Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest Legislative Council in the country at 100 members. If any state on this list were to be dropped, it would not be that one.
• (c)3 and 4 only — Keeps the two Hindi-belt states and drops the two Telugu-speaking ones. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana both have Councils, of 58 and 40 members.

A Legislative Council is the second chamber of a state legislature, and having one is optional. Article 169 lets Parliament create or abolish a Council for a state, but only after that state's own legislature passes a resolution to that effect by a special majority — a majority of the total membership of the Assembly and not less than two-thirds of those present and voting. The Council is a continuing body that is never dissolved as a whole; its members are drawn partly from local authorities, graduates and teachers, partly by election by the Assembly and partly by nomination by the Governor.

This is a list question with no trap in the facts, only in the instinct to drop something. Candidates lose it by assuming a codes question must exclude at least one item. The safest route is to memorise the whole six-state roster rather than to test the four in front of you, because that roster changes rarely and slowly — the most recent change was the loss of the Jammu and Kashmir Council, which had 36 members and went with the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, leaving six. Any question of this kind can then be answered by matching against the list.

• Six states have a Legislative Council — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
• Uttar Pradesh has the largest Council with 100 members; Telangana the smallest of the six with 40.
• Maharashtra has 78 members, and Bihar and Karnataka 75 each; Andhra Pradesh has 58.
• Article 169 lets Parliament create or abolish a Council once the state legislature resolves to that effect by a special majority.
• The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council of 36 members was abolished by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

• Assuming a codes question must exclude at least one item.
• Confusing the Legislative Council with the Rajya Sabha; the Council is a state chamber.
• Reading Article 169 as giving the state alone the power to abolish. Parliament legislates, on the state's resolution.

As a select-the-states list like this one, or as a single question asking which state does not have a Council.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under which Article of the Constitution of India may Parliament create or abolish a Legislative Council in a State?

  • (a)Article 168
  • (b)Article 169
  • (c)Article 170
  • (d)Article 171

  Answer(b) Article 169 — and only after the State legislature passes a resolution to that effect by a special majority.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following States does NOT have a Legislative Council?

  • (a)Karnataka
  • (b)Maharashtra
  • (c)Tamil Nadu
  • (d)Telangana

  Answer(c) Tamil Nadu — the six bicameral States are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.