At a glance
- Unicameral: the Legislature of Rajasthan is the Governor and one House, the Legislative Assembly (Article 168); Rajasthan has no Legislative Council.
- Firsts: Narottam Lal Joshi was the first Speaker and Lal Singh Shaktawat the first Deputy Speaker, both from 31 March 1952; Maharav Sangram Singh was the first pro tem Speaker.
- Reserved seats in the 16th Assembly: 34 for Scheduled Castes and 25 for Scheduled Tribes, out of 200.
- Rule 3A of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure: at least three sessions (Winter, Budget and Rainy) in a calendar year, with at least sixty sittings in all.
The Constitution's frame: Articles 168 to 212
| Article | What it says |
|---|---|
| 168 | Every State has a Legislature of the Governor and one or two Houses; Article 168(1)(a) names the States with two Houses, and every other State has one House, the Legislative Assembly |
| 169 | Parliament may by law create or abolish a Legislative Council if the Assembly passes a resolution by a majority of its total membership and by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting |
| 170 | An Assembly has not more than 500 and not less than 60 members, chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies. Until the figures of the first census after 2026 are published, the number of seats stays as fixed on the 1971 census and the constituencies as drawn on the 2001 census |
| 171 | A Legislative Council has not more than one-third of the Assembly's members ("one-third" replaced "one-fourth" by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956) and never fewer than forty |
| 172 | An Assembly lasts five years from the date appointed for its first meeting, unless dissolved sooner; during a Proclamation of Emergency Parliament may extend it by law, up to one year at a time and not beyond six months after the Proclamation ends |
| 173 | A member must be a citizen of India, at least 25 years old, and must make an oath before a person authorised by the Election Commission |
| 178, 179 | The Assembly chooses a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker from its members. Either vacates office on ceasing to be a member, may resign in writing (the Speaker to the Deputy Speaker and the other way round), and may be removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members, moved after at least 14 days' notice. On dissolution the Speaker stays in office until just before the new Assembly's first meeting |
| 180 | While the Speaker's office is vacant, the Deputy Speaker performs its duties; if both offices are vacant, a member appointed by the Governor does |
| 181 | The Speaker does not preside while a resolution for his removal is under consideration; he may speak, and may vote in the first instance only, not on an equality of votes |
| 188 | Every member, before taking his seat, makes an oath or affirmation before the Governor or a person he appoints |
| 191, 192 | Disqualifications: an office of profit, unsound mind declared by a court, undischarged insolvency, not being a citizen, a law of Parliament, and defection (Tenth Schedule). On a question under Article 191(1) the Governor decides, after obtaining the Election Commission's opinion and acting on it |
| 194 | Freedom of speech in the Legislature; no member is liable in any court for anything said or any vote given in the Legislature or its committees |
| 196, 199 | A Bill pending in the Legislature does not lapse when the House is prorogued (Article 196(3)); Article 199 defines a Money Bill |
| 203, 204 | Expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State may be discussed but is not voted; the rest goes to the Assembly as demands for grants, which it may pass, refuse or reduce; an Appropriation Bill follows |
| 208, 210 | The House makes its own rules of procedure; business is in the official language of the State, in Hindi or in English, and the Speaker may let a member who cannot express himself adequately in these languages speak in his mother tongue |
| 212 | The validity of proceedings cannot be questioned in a court on the ground of an irregularity of procedure |
| 332, 334 | Seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population; this reservation ends eighty years from the commencement of the Constitution (Constitution (One Hundred and Fourth Amendment) Act, 2019) |
| 332A, 334A | Seats for women (one-third, Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023) take effect only after a delimitation based on the first census after that Amendment comes into force |
The Governor's part (summoning, prorogation and dissolution, Articles 174 to 176; assent to Bills and the Budget, Articles 200 to 202; ordinances, Article 213) is on the Governor page.
Rajasthan Legislative Assembly: the facts
| Strength | 160 in the 1st Assembly (1952), 176 in the 2nd and 3rd, 184 in the 4th and 5th, 200 from the 6th (1977). The strength is set by the Delimitation Commission |
|---|---|
| 1st Assembly | Constituted 23 February 1952; members took the oath on 29 March 1952 |
| Ajmer's members | Ajmer State had its own Legislative Assembly of 30 members from May 1952; when Ajmer merged into Rajasthan in November 1956, its members were treated as members of Rajasthan's 1st Assembly for the rest of its term |
| 16th Assembly | Constituted 4 December 2023, the day the Election Commission notified the elected members |
| Rules of Procedure | "Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajasthan Legislative Assembly", first framed in 1956 |
Speakers
The House elects the Speaker on a date the Governor fixes; any member may give written notice of a motion naming another member, seconded by a third member (Rule 7). The Deputy Speaker is elected on a date the Speaker fixes (Rule 8).
| Speaker | Term |
|---|---|
| Narottam Lal Joshi | 31 Mar 1952 – 25 Apr 1957 |
| Ram Niwas Mirdha | 25 Apr 1957 – 13 Mar 1962; 14 Mar 1962 – 3 May 1967 |
| Niranjan Nath Acharya | 3 May 1967 – 20 Mar 1972 |
| Ram Kishore Vyas | 20 Mar 1972 – 18 Jul 1977 |
| Laxman Singh Maharawal | 18 Jul 1977 – 20 Jun 1979 |
| Gopal Singh | 25 Sep 1979 – 7 Jul 1980 |
| Poonam Chand Vishnoi | 7 Jul 1980 – 20 Mar 1985 |
| Hiralal Devpura | 20 Mar 1985 – 16 Oct 1985 |
| Giriraj Prasad Tiwari | 31 Jan 1986 – 11 Mar 1990 |
| Hari Shankar Bhabhra | 16 Mar 1990 – 21 Dec 1993; 30 Dec 1993 – 5 Oct 1994 |
| Shanti Lal Chaplot | 7 Apr 1995 – 18 Mar 1998 |
| Samrath Lal Meena | 24 Jul 1998 – 4 Jan 1999 |
| Parasram Maderna | 6 Jan 1999 – 15 Jan 2004 |
| Sumitra Singh | 16 Jan 2004 – 1 Jan 2009 |
| Deependra Singh Shekhawat | 2 Jan 2009 – 20 Jan 2014 |
| Kailash Chandra Meghwal | 22 Jan 2014 – 15 Jan 2019 |
| C.P. Joshi | 16 Jan 2019 – 20 Dec 2023 |
| Vasudev Devnani | From 21 Dec 2023 (Speaker as of 23 October 2026) |
Pro tem Speakers and Leaders of Opposition, Assembly by Assembly
Until a new Assembly elects its Speaker, a member appointed by the Governor performs the Speaker's duties (Article 180(1)): the pro tem Speaker. The list of Chief Ministers is on the Chief Minister page.
| Assembly | Pro tem Speaker (year appointed) | Leader(s) of Opposition |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Maharav Sangram Singh (1952); Jai Narayan Vyas (1956) | Jaswant Singh; Tan Singh |
| 2nd | Narayan Singh Masuda (1957) | Narendra Singh (Dudu) |
| 3rd | Narayan Singh Masuda (1962) | Laxman Singh |
| 4th | Poonam Chand Vishnoi (1967) | Laxman Singh |
| 5th | Yashwant Singh Nahar (1972) | Laxman Singh |
| 6th | Major Fateh Singh (1977) | Parasram Maderna; Ram Narayan Chaudhary; Laxman Singh |
| 7th | Parasram Maderna (1980) | Bhairon Singh Shekhawat |
| 8th | Laxman Singh (1985) | Bhairon Singh Shekhawat; Kedar Nath Sharma |
| 9th | Poonam Chand Vishnoi (1990) | Haridev Joshi |
| 10th | Poonam Chand Vishnoi (1993, again 1995 and 1998) | Parasram Maderna |
| 11th | Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (1998) | Bhairon Singh Shekhawat; Gulab Chand Kataria |
| 12th | Gangaram Chaudhary (2004) | B.D. Kalla; Ram Narayan Chaudhary; Hema Ram Chaudhary |
| 13th | Devi Singh Bhati (2008) | Vasundhara Raje; Gulab Chand Kataria |
| 14th | Pradhyumn Singh (2014) | Rameshwar Lal Dudi |
| 15th | Gulab Chand Kataria (2019) | Gulab Chand Kataria; Rajendra Rathore |
| 16th | Kalicharan Saraf (2023) | Tika Ram Jully (as of 23 October 2026) |
Committees
Committees are standing or ad hoc. The Assembly has 22 standing committees: four financial and 18 others.
| Group | Committees |
|---|---|
| Financial (4) | Public Accounts Committee; Public Undertakings Committee; two Estimates Committees (A and B) |
| Other standing (18) | Business Advisory; Government Assurances; Environment; Ethics; Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions; Petitions; Privileges; Subordinate Legislation; Welfare of Backward Classes; Welfare of Minorities; Welfare of Scheduled Castes; Welfare of Scheduled Tribes; Welfare of Women and Children; General Purposes; House; Library; Questions and References; Rules |
- Members: the financial committees are elected by proportional representation through the single transferable vote; the others are nominated by the Speaker, from ruling and opposition parties generally in proportion to their strength. The Speaker names each committee's chairman from among its members; he is himself chairman of the Business Advisory, Rules and General Purposes Committees (Rules 212, 247, 253G).
- Term and Ministers: members generally serve one year; no Minister can be a member, except on a Select Committee on a Government Bill, and the Chief Minister as Leader of the House on the Business Advisory Committee.
- Business Advisory Committee: the House decides its business on this committee's recommendation.
- Library Committee (Rule 253A): not more than ten members including the Chairman, nominated by the Speaker; term not more than one year.
- Subordinate Legislation (Rules 238 to 243): Rule 238 gives its function, to check whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules and bye-laws, given by the Constitution or delegated by the Legislature, are properly used; Rule 239: not more than fifteen members, nominated by the Speaker, for not more than one year; Rule 240: every such "Order" is numbered centrally and published in the Gazette; Rule 241: the Committee picks Orders for scrutiny.
MLAs in the President's and Rajya Sabha elections
- President: the elected members of the Assemblies of the States are part of the electoral college (Article 54). Each MLA's vote is the State's population divided by the number of elected members, counted in thousands, plus one if the remainder is 500 or more; the population is that of the 1971 census until the first census after 2026 is published (Article 55(2)). The election is by proportional representation through the single transferable vote, by secret ballot (Article 55(3)).
- Rajasthan in 2022: 2,57,65,806 (1971 census) ÷ 200 = 1,28,829, which is 128 thousands with a remainder of 829, so each MLA's vote was worth 129, and the 200 MLAs together 25,800.
- Rajya Sabha: the State's members of the Council of States are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly, by proportional representation through the single transferable vote (Article 80(4)).
Remember: often mixed up
- Gulab Chand Katariapro tem Speaker of the 15th Assembly (2019) and Leader of Opposition in the 11th, 13th and 15th, but never Speaker.
- Ashok GehlotChief Minister in the 11th, 13th and 15th Assemblies, but not in the Assembly's list of Leaders of Opposition.
- Narayan Singh Masudapro tem Speaker of the 2nd and 3rd Assemblies and Deputy Speaker from 1962 to 1967, never Speaker.
- Poonam Chand Vishnoipro tem Speaker in the 4th, 9th and 10th Assemblies, Deputy Speaker from 1967 to 1971 and Speaker from 1980 to 1985.
- Bhairon Singh Shekhawatpro tem Speaker of the 11th Assembly and Leader of Opposition in the 7th, 8th and 11th.
- Library Committeeten members at most; fifteen is the limit for committees such as Subordinate Legislation and Welfare of Scheduled Castes.
Test yourself: asked in exams
BSTC 2026 (shift I) · Q89
Who among the following persons has NOT been a full-time Speaker in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly?
- (1)Narottam Lal Joshi
- (2)Ramkishor Vyas
- (3)Niranjan Nath Acharya
- (4)Gulab Chand Kataria
Show answer
✓ (4) Gulab Chand Kataria
See the full paperBSTC 2026 (shift I) · Q98
Who among the following has never been the Leader of Opposition of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly?
- (1)Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
- (2)Haridev Joshi
- (3)Vasundhara Raje
- (4)Ashok Gehlot
Show answer
✓ (4) Ashok Gehlot
See the full paperCET Graduation Level 2022 · Q62
Who was the first Protem Speaker of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly?
- (1)Maharao Sangram Singh
- (2)Narayan Singh Masuda
- (3)Poonam Chand Vishnoi
- (4)Yashwant Singh Nahar
Show answer
✓ (1) Maharao Sangram Singh
See the full paperRAS Prelims 2023 · Q27
In the Presidential Election, 2022, the vote value of each member of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly was –
- (1)149
- (2)132
- (3)129
- (4)116
Show answer
✓ (3) 129
See the full paperProtection Officer 2024 · Q46
Consider the following statements regarding Library Committee of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly - (I) Library Committee is consisting of not more than fifteen members including the Chairman. (II) The Library Committee shall be nominated by the Speaker and the term of office of its members shall not exceed one year. Choose the correct answer -
- (1)Neither (I) nor (II) is correct.
- (2)Only (II) is correct.
- (3)Only (I) is correct.
- (4)Both (I) and (II) are correct.
Show answer
✓ (2) Only (II) is correct.
See the full paperProtection Officer 2024 · Q50
Which of the following Constitutional Amendment amended Article 171(1) of the Constitution of India to provide that the total number of members of a State Legislative Council shall not exceed "one-third" instead of "one-fourth" of the total number of members of the State Legislative Assembly?
- (1)30th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1972
- (2)51st Constitutional Amendment Act, 1984
- (3)15th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1963
- (4)7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956
Show answer
✓ (4) 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956
See the full paperRAS Prelims 2024 · Q27
Which of the following statement is incorrect regarding subordinate legislation in Rajasthan Legislative Assembly ?
- (1)The Committee on Subordinate Legislation examines all "orders" framed in pursuance of the provision of the constitution or a statute delegating power to subordinate authority to make such order.
- (2)The Committee may examine provisions of Bills which seek to delegate powers to make orders.
- (3)Speaker refers Bills containing provisions for delegation of legislative powers to the Committee.
- (4)This is done by Rule 240 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.
Show answer
✓ (4) This is done by Rule 240 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.
See the full paperRAS Prelims 2024 · Q19
Which of the following statement is incorrect regarding the election of the President of India ?
- (1)The President of India is elected by the members of an Electoral College consisting of (a) the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and (b) the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States and the Union Territories with Legislative Assembly.
- (2)Value of vote for each of the members of the Electoral College is decided based on the population census of 1971 and it will continue to be so till population of the first census taken after the year 2026 have been published.
- (3)The elections are held in accordance with the system of Proportional Representation by means of single transferable vote.
- (4)Every elected member of the Legislative Assembly of a State shall have as many votes as there are multiples of one hundred in the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the State by the total number of the elected members of the Assembly.
Show answer
✓ (4) Every elected member of the Legislative Assembly of a State shall have as many votes as there are multiples of one hundred in the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the State by the total number of the elected members of the Assembly.
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