 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS AND TERMS

SR. NO TERM DESCRIPTION

1 Constituency A particular area of State from which all the
voter living there choose their
representatives is known as a constituency.
2 Majority A political party whose MLAs have won
more than half the number of constituencies
in a state can be said in a majority.
3 Opposition The elected representatives who are not the
members of the ruling party but raise new
issues for consideration in the Assembly can
be said in opposition.
4 Legislative A Legislative Assembly is a place where all
Assembly the MLAs, whether from the ruling party or
from the opposition meet to discuss various
things.
5 Governor The Governor is the Head of the State.
She/he is appointed by the President of
India.
Que.1 Use the terms ‘constituency’ and ‘represent’ to explain who an
MLA is and how is the person elected?
Ans. MLA:-
An MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) is a person who
is elected by the people and represents a constituency (an area).
→The person is elected in the following manners:-
(I) The whole state is divided into constituencies.
(II) The voters of each constituency cast their votes in favour of
the candidates of their choice.
(III) The candidate who secures the highest number of votes gets
elected as an MLA and represents the constituency in the
legislative assembly of the State.
Que.2 How did some MLAs become Ministers? Explain.
Ans. MLAs became Ministers in the following ways:
(I) After the elections, the MLAs belonging to the ruling party will
elect their leader who will become the ‘Chief Minister’. He is
appointed by the Governor.
(II) The ‘Chief Minister’ then selects other people (MLAs) as
ministers.
(III) Then Governor appoints these selected MLAs as ‘Ministers’
and allocates different departments or ministries.
Que.3 Why should decisions taken by the Chief Minister and other
ministers be debated in the Legislative Assembly?
Ans. In a democracy, the purpose of debate is to approve the
government decisions by the people. The people can’t do this directly.
So, their representatives in the Legislative Assembly approve or
disapprove the decisions taken by the Chief Minister and other
ministers after taking part in debate on the issues.
Que.5 What is the difference between the work that MLAs do in the
Assembly and the work done by the government departments?
Ans.
Work that MLAs do in Assembly Work that MLAs do in government
departments
1. MLAs take part in different 1. They take action and direct the
debate or discussion on the officials to do what is needed.
issue of urgent need.
2. They ask questions to 2. They reply the questions, asked
different ministers of related in the Assembly.
departments.
3. They raise the issues in the 3. They assure the assembly
Assembly and draw the members for urgent measures to
attention of the government for control the situation.
urgent measures.

1. What is ‘Constituency’?
2. What is majority?
3. What is opposition?
4. What is a Legislative Assembly?
5. Who is the Governor?

SUNIL KUMAR RANA

SOCIAL SCIENCE TEACHER
DYAL SINGH PUBLIC SCHOOL, PANIPAT
CONTACT: 9896406044