The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India, an institution established under the Constitution of India. Its creation is rooted in the transition from the colonial-era Imperial Legislative Council, which was disbanded in 1947, to a sovereign, representative law-making body for the newly independent nation. The framework for the Parliament was laid down in the Constitution, which came into effect on January 26, 1950, and the first elected Parliament was constituted in April 1952.
The mechanism of the Parliament is defined in Part V, Chapter II of the Constitution, with Article 79 stating that the Parliament for the Union shall consist of the President and two Houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). This bicameral structure ensures representation of both the people (Lok Sabha members are directly elected) and the states (Rajya Sabha members are elected by state legislative assemblies). The President, as head of the legislature, has the power to summon, prorogue, and dissolve the Lok Sabha, as detailed in Article 85. The Parliament connects directly to the Council of Ministers, who are drawn from and collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.
Recent changes include the abolition of the provision for the nomination of two members of the Anglo-Indian community to the Lok Sabha in January 2020 by the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019. Furthermore, the Parliament moved into the New Parliament Building (Sansad Bhavan), which was inaugurated in May 2023. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, which seeks to reserve one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, was also introduced in September 2023.