The
Kerala Legislative Assembly is the law making body
of Kerala
, one of the
28 States in India
. The
Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives and one nominated
member from the
Anglo-Indian community.
Each elected member represents one of the 140 constituencies within
the borders of Kerala and is referred to as Member of Legislative
Assembly or M.L.A.
History
The evolution of
Kerala Legislative Assembly begins with
the formation of a Legislative Council in the princely state of
Travancore in 1888. The
Legislative
Council of Travancore had undergone so many changes by years.
By the meantime people’s participation in the Assembly was widely
sought. All those efforts led to the formation of one more
representative body, namely the
Sri
Moolam Popular Assembly of Travancore. This Assembly of the
representatives of the landholders and merchants, aimed at giving
the people an opportunity of bringing to the notice of Government
their requirements, wishes or grievances on the one hand, and on
the other, to make the policy and measures of Government better
known to the people so that all possible grounds of misconception
may be removed. That was in
October 1,
1904. Though the popular assembly contained
representatives of tax- payers, it finally became a people’s
representatives body. Political awareness and people agitations
were aggressive and the authorities were forced to include peoples
representatives into the popular assembly. On
May
1,
1905, a regulation was issued to grant
to the people the privilege of electing members to the Assembly. Of
the 100 members, 77 were to be elected and 23 nominated, for a
tenure of 1 year. The right to vote was given to persons who paid
on their account an annual land revenue of not less than Rs. 50 or
whose net income was not less than Rs. 2000 and to graduates of a
recognized University, with not less than 10 years standing and
having their residence in the taluk. The membership of the popular
assembly increased year by year and finally in 1921 elected
representatives gained the majority. By that time the house had 50
members of which 28 were elected and the rest nominated.
By this
time the princely stated of Cochin
also formed
a Legislative Council (1925), with 30 elected and 15
nominated representatives. Malabar District
of Madras
Province
under the British rule, had
representatives in Madras
Legislative Assembly from 1920's.
After India’s independence responsible governments were formed in
Travancore and Cochin. In 1949 the merger of Travancore and Cochin
and the first Legislative Assembly composed of 178 members of the
Legislative bodies of Travancore and Cochin. The
Malabar region had representatives in the
Madras Legislative Assembly.
Assembly after the formation of Kerala State
In 1956, the State of Kerala was formed on linguistic basis,
merging Travancore, Cochin and Malabar regions. The first general
election in the Kerala State was held in February-March, 1957. The
first
Kerala Legislative Assembly was formed on March 1,
1957. The Assembly had 127 members including a nominated
member.
The State Assembly is known as Niyama Sabha and is housed in New
Legislature Complex. This 10 storied complex is one of the largest
complexes in India. The Central Hall is described as most elegant
and majestic hall with ornamental Teakwood-Rosewood
panelling.
List of current members of the Kerala Legislative Assembly
(Not complete. See
Election Database for full list.)
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