Legislative Assembly(हिमाचल प्रदेश विधान सभा)

History of Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly

The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly has no pre-constitution history-the State itself is a post-Independence creation. It first came into being as a Centrally administered territory on April 15, 1948 by the integration of 30 erstwhile princely States. It was administered by a Chief Commissioner, aided and advised in the discharge of his functions by an Advisory Council Consisting of Nine members, three of whom represented the erstwhile princely States and Six being public representatives. In 1951, it became a part 'C' State. Vide Section 3 of Part 'C' State's Act, 1951 Himachal Pradesh was brought under a Lt.Governor with 36 member Legislative Assembly. First election to the Assembly were held in 1952.

 In 1954 Bilaspur, another part-C State, was merged with Himachal Pradesh and the strength of its Assembly was raised to 41. In 1956, despite majority recommendation of the States Reorganization Commission for its merger with Punjab, Himachal Pradesh retained its separate identity, thanks to the famous dissenting note of the Chairman of the Commission, Justice Sh. Fazal Ali which found favour with the Centre. But a great price had to be paid as Himachal was made a Union Territory sans Legislative Assembly and was placed under an Administrator designated as Lt. Governor. Instead of a Legislative Assembly it was provided with a Territorial Council with limited powers. Thereafter, the people and the political leadership of the State had to literally move heaven and earth for the restoration of democratic edifice. Their efforts finally bore fruit in 1963, when a bill was passed by the Union Parliament for providing Legislative Assemblies and Council of Ministers to certain Union Territories including H.P. It was enforced in the case of Himachal Pradesh from Ist July, 1963 after receiving President's assent. 

The Territorial Council which was a replica of a dyarchical form of government was converted into a Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory. The strength of the Assembly was fixed at 43 including 2 nominated members. The Assembly held its first sitting from Ist of October 1963. Continuity of the Assembly is considered from this date hence its silver jubilee was celebrated in the year 1988. With the merger of new areas into Himachal Pradesh in 1966, the number of Members in the House rose to 56 including 2 nominated. The strength of the House was further raised to 63 (60 elected and 3 nominated) after section 24 (3) of Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966 (Act No. 31 of 1966) came into force in 1967. Finally it was on January 25, 1971 that a big leap forward was taken and the abode of gods ('Devbhumi' as Himachal is called) made its debut as the 18th State of the Union of India. The declaration of a full fledged State came from none other then the Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi from the historic Ridge Maidan. After delimitation of Assembly seats in the year 1971-72, the number of Members in the Assembly now stands at 68.

List of Assemblies

Election Year	Assembly	Winning Party/Coalition	Chief Minister
1952	Legislative Assembly of Part-C State of H.P.	Indian National Congress	Yashwant Singh Parmar
1957	Territorial Council
1962–1967	First Assembly	Indian National Congress	Yashwant Singh Parmar
1967–1972	Second Assembly	Indian National Congress	Yashwant Singh Parmar
1972–1977	Third Assembly	Indian National Congress	Yashwant Singh Parmar
1977–1982	Fourth Assembly	Janta Party	Shanta Kumar
1982–1985	Fifth Assembly	Indian National Congress	Ram Lal Thakur Virbhadra Singh
1985–1990	Sixth Assembly	Indian National Congress	Virbhadra Singh
1990–1992	Seventh Assembly	Bharatiya Janata Party	Shanta Kumar
1993–1998	Eighth Assembly	Indian National Congress	Virbhadra Singh (2)
1998–2003	Ninth Assembly	Bharatiya Janata Party	Prem Kumar Dhumal
2003–2007	Tenth Assembly	Indian National Congress	Virbhadra Singh (3)
2007-2012	Eleventh Assembly	Bharatiya Janata Party	Prem Kumar Dhumal (2)
2012–2017	Twelfth Assembly	Indian National Congress	Virbhadra Singh (4)
2017-Current	13th Assembly	Bharatiya Janata Party	Jai Ram Thakur(1)

Current Cabinet (2012-present)

Source: Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly

Designation	Name
Chief Minister	Virbhadra Singh
Public Works Minister	Held by Chief Minister
Education Minister	Held by Chief Minister
Forest Minister	Thakur Singh Bharmouri
Irrigation & Public Health Minister	Smt. Vidya Stokes
Industries Minister	Mukesh Agnihotri
Horticulture & Information Education Minister	Smt. Vidya Stokes
Power and Agriculture Minister	Sujan Singh Pathania
Health & Family Welfare Minister	Kaul Singh Thakur
Social Justice & Empowerment Department Minister	Dhani Ram Shandil
Panchayati Raj & R.D Minister	Held by Chief Minister
Cooperation Minister                                             Housing,Urban Development Minister	Sudhir Sharma

Current Party Composition

Source: Party Position in the House

Sl.No.	Name of the Political Party (Abbreviation)	Number of Members
1	INC	36
2	BJP	26
3	IND	6
	Total	68

List of constituencies and present MLAs

Source: H.P. Vidhan Sabha-Election ^.

Sr. No.	Members Name	Political Party	Constituency Name
1.	Anil Kumar	INC	Mandi-68
2.	Atma Ram	BJP	Rajgir-42(SC)
3.	Bal Krishan Chauhan	BJP	Chamba-53
4.	RAKESH KALIA	INC	Gagret-29(SC)
5.	Baldev Sharma	BJP	Nadaunta-28
6.	Des Raj	BJP	Gangath-35(SC)
7.	Dile Ram	BJP	Nachan-61(SC)
8.	Dr. Prem Singh	INC	Renuka-16(SC)
9.	Dr. Rajeev Bindal	BJP	Solan-14
10.	Dr. Rajiv Saizal	BJP	Kasauli-13(SC)
11.	Dr. Ram Lal Markanda	BJP	Lahaul Spiti-55(ST)
12.	G.S. Bali	INC	Nagrota-46
13.	Gangu Ram Musafir	INC	Pachhad-15(SC)
14.	Gobind Ram	BJP	Arki-10
15.	Govind Singh Thakur	BJP	Kullu-56
16.	Gulab Singh Thakur	BJP	Jogindernagar-66
17.	Hari Narayan Singh	BJP	Nalagarh-12
18.	Harshwardhan Chauhan	INC	Shillai-17
19.	Hira Lal	IND	Karsog-59(SC)
20.	Inder Singh	BJP	Gopalpur-64
21.		BJP	Mewa-27(SC)
22.	BUMBER THAKUR	INC	Bilaspur-21
23.	Jai Ram Thakur	BJP	Chachiot-60
24.	Kaul Singh Thakur	INC	Darang-67
25.	Khimi Ram	BJP	Banjar-57
26.	Khushi Ram Balanatah	BJP	Rohru-3
27.	Sudhir Sharma	INC	Dharamsala-48
28.	Kishori Lal	BJP	Ani-58(SC)
29.	Kuldeep Singh Pathania	INC	Bhatyiyat-50
30.	Kush Parmar	INC	Nahan-19
31.	Mahender Singh	BJP	Dharampur-65
32.	Mukesh Agnihotri	INC	Santokhgarh-31
33.	Nand Lal	INC	Rampur-2(SC)
34.	Narender Bragta	BJP	Jubbal-Kotkhai-4
35.	Neeraj Bharti	INC	Guler-37
36.	Nikhil Rajour	INC	Jaswan-38
37.	Parveen Kumar	BJP	Palampur-44
38.	Prakash Chaudhary	INC	Balh-63(SC)
39.	Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal	BJP	Bamsan-26
40.	Rajesh Dharmani	INC	Ghumarwin
41.	Rakesh Kalia	INC	Chintpurni-30
42.	Ajay Mahajan	INC	Nurpur-34
43.	Rakesh Verma	IND	Theog-7
44.	Ramesh Chand	BJP	Jawalamukhi-40
45.	Randhir Sharma	BJP	Shri Naina Devi Ji-49
46.	Ravinder Singh	BJP	Thural-41
49.	Renu Chadha	BJP	Banikhet-51
48.	Rikhi Ram Kaundal	BJP	Geharwin-23(SC)
49.	Roop Singh	BJP	Sundernagar-62
50.	PAWAN KAJAL	Independent	Kangra-49
51.	Sarveen Chaudhary	BJP	Shahpur-47
52.	Satpal Singh Satti	BJP	Una-32
53.	ANIRUDH SINGH	INC	Kasumpti-9(SC)
54.	Subhash Chand Manglate	INC	Chopal-5
55.	KISHORI LAL	INC	Baijnath-43
56.	Sujan Singh Pathania	INC	Jawali-36
57.	Sukh Ram	BJP	Paonta Doon-18
58.	Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu	INC	Nadaun-24
59.	Suresh Bhardwaj	BJP	Shimla-8
60.	Surinder Bhardwaj	INC	Rajnagar-52(SC)
61.	JAGAT SINGH NEGI	INC	Kinnaur-1(ST)
62.	Tulsi Ram	BJP	Bharmaur-54(ST)
63.	Urmil Thakur	BJP	Hamirpur-25
64.	Vidya Stokes	INC	Kumarsain-6
65.	RAM KUMAR	INC	Doon-11
66.	Vipin Singh Parmar	BJP	Sulah-45
67.	Virender Kanwar	BJP	Kutlehar-33
68.	Thakur Vikram Singh	BJP	Jaswan Pragpur-39(SC)