Origin The first
Indian Councils Act 1861 set up the Madras Legislative Council as an advisory body through which the colonial administration obtained advice and assistance. The act empowered the provincial governor to nominate four non-English Indian members to the council for the first time. Under the act, the nominated members were allowed to move their own bills and vote on bills introduced in the council. However, they were not allowed to question the executive, move resolutions or examine the budget. Also they could not interfere with the laws passed by the Central Legislature. The governor was also the president of the council and he had complete authority over when, where and how long to convene the council and what to discuss. Two members of his Executive Council and the Advocate-General of Madras were also allowed to participate and vote in the council. The Indians nominated under this act were mostly
zamindars and
ryotwari landowners, who often benefited from their association with the colonial government. Supportive members were often re-nominated for several terms.
G. N. Ganapathy Rao was nominated eight times,
Humayun Jah Bahadur was a member for 23 years,
T. Rama Rao and
P. Chentsal Rao were members for six years each. Other prominent members during the period included
V. Bhashyam Aiyengar,
S. Subramania Iyer and
C. Sankaran Nair. The council met infrequently and in some years (1874 and 1892) was not convened even once. The maximum of number of times it met in a year was eighteen. The governor preferred to convene the council at his summer retreat
Udhagamandalam, much to the displeasure of the Indian members. The few times when the council met, it was for only a few hours with bills and resolutions being rushed through.
Expansion In 1892, the role of the Council was expanded by the
Indian Councils Act 1892. The act increased the number of additional members of the council to a maximum of 20, of whom not more than nine had to be officials. The act introduced the method of election for the council, but did not mention word "election" explicitly. The elected members were officially called as "nominated" members and their method of election was described as "recommendation". Such "recommendations" were made by district boards, universities, municipalities and other associations. The term of the members was fixed at two years. The council could also discuss the annual financial statement and ask questions subject to certain limitations. The council did not meet more than nine days in a year during the time the act was in effect. The council had a total of 127 members in addition to the
ex-officio members of the Governor's Executive Council. Out of the 127, 98 were elected from 61 constituencies of the presidency. The constituencies comprised three arbitrary divisions: • communal constituencies such as non-Muhammadan urban, non-Muhammadan rural, non-Brahman urban,
Mohamaddan urban, Mohamaddan rural, Indian Christian, European and Anglo-Indian • special constituencies such as landholders, Universities, planters and trade associations (South India Chamber of Commerce & Nattukottai Nagarathar Association) and • territorial constituencies. 28 of the constituencies were reserved for non-
Brahmans. 29 members were nominated, out of whom a maximum of 19 would be government officials, 5 would represent the
Paraiyar,
Pallar,
Valluvar,
Mala,
Madiga,
Sakkiliar, Thottiyar, Cheruman and
Holeya communities and 1 would represent the "backward tracts". Including the Executive Council members, the total strength of the legislature was 134. The
first election for the Madras Legislative Council, under this act was held in November 1920. The first sitting of the council was inaugurated by the
Duke of Connaught on 12 January 1921. In total, five such councils were constituted (in 1920,
23,
26,
30 and
34). The term of the councils was three years (except for the fourth council which was extended for a year in expectation of abolition of dyarchy ). While the first, second and fourth councils were controlled by
Justice Party majorities, the third Council was characterised by a fractured verdict and an
independent ministry. The fifth council also saw a fractured verdict and a minority Justice government. Seven million people, roughly 15% of the Madras people holding land or paying urban taxes were qualified to be the electorate. Under this Act, two councils were constituted - the first in
1937 and the second in
1946. Both Councils were controlled by
Congress majorities.
In Republic of India (1950–86) After India became
independent in 1947 and the
Indian Constitution was adopted in 1950, the Legislative Council continued to be the upper chamber of the legislature of the
Madras State - the successor to Madras Presidency. It continued to be called as the "Madras Legislative Council". The Council was a permanent body and was not subject to dissolution. The length of a member's term was six years and one-third of the members retired every two years. The strength of the Council was not less than 40 or more than one-third of the strength of the Assembly. The following table illustrates how the members of Council were selected: The actual strength of the council varied from time to time. During 1952–53, it had a strength of 72. After the formation of
Andhra state on 1 October 1953, its strength came down to 51. In 1956 it decreased to 50 and the next year increased again to 63 - where it remained till the council's abolition. Of those 63, local bodies and the assembly elected 21 each, the teachers and graduates elected 6 each and the remaining 9 were nominated. When Madras state was renamed as
Tamil Nadu in 1968, the name of the council also changed to "Tamil Nadu Legislative Council". ==Abolition==