SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 18 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 14 of 99

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

The Upper House of a State Legislature is known as the ____________.

(a)Lok Sabha
(b)Vidhan Parishad
(c)Vidhan Sabha
(d)Rajya Sabha

Answer

Why

Correct — B. A State Legislature may be bicameral. Where it is, the lower house is the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and the upper house is the Vidhan Parishad, the Legislative Council.

The Union Parliament's two houses carry different names — Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — so the whole task here is keeping the two tiers apart. Option (b) is the state-level upper house.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Lok Sabha — Lok Sabha is the lower house of the Union Parliament, not a state body. Its members are elected directly from constituencies across the country.
(c)
Vidhan Sabha — The Vidhan Sabha is the state's lower house, directly elected — the chamber the question is contrasting the upper house with.
(d)
Rajya Sabha — Rajya Sabha is the upper house of Parliament, a Union chamber. Its members are elected by the elected MLAs of the states, which is what makes it easy to misfile as a state body.

Concept

Article 168 defines the legislature of every state as the Governor plus one or two Houses.

Most states are unicameral — the Vidhan Sabha alone. A few also have a Vidhan Parishad, and Article 169 lets Parliament create or abolish one after that state's Assembly passes a resolution by a special majority.

The Council is a permanently constituted house. It is never dissolved, a third of its members retire every two years, and its strength can neither exceed one-third of the Assembly's nor fall below 40.

The stem says the Upper House of a State Legislature, not of every state — most states do not have one at all. Six states had a Legislative Council in 2024: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

Key facts

Article 168 defines a State Legislature as the Governor together with one or two Houses.
The Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) is the upper house, the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) the lower.
Article 169 lets Parliament create or abolish a Council after a special-majority resolution of that state's Assembly.
Under Article 171 a Council's strength cannot exceed one-third of the Assembly's, and can never be below 40.

Study next

Article 171 and the six categories that make up a Legislative Council's membershipHow a Council's power over money bills differs from an Assembly'sPart VI of the Constitution and the articles that govern the states

Common traps

Reading Rajya Sabha as a state body because MLAs elect its members.
Assuming every state has an upper house.

The State Legislature chapter is asked by the name of a House, by article number and by procedure. Also asked 26 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q23 (Articles 168 to 212 in Part VI cover the State Legislature) and 12 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q20 (a money bill in a state assembly needs the Governor's prior permission).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.