Early background The legislative institutions of the former
Kingdom of Mysore were established in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After the
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, the British administration utilized
Tipu Sultan's palace as the secretariat office. The two houses of legislature of the
princely state of Mysore, the legislative assembly and the legislative council, were established in 1881 and 1907 respectively. Sessions of the two houses took place in
Mysore with joint sessions taking place in the
Bangalore Town Hall. In the 19th century, during the period of British Commissioners
Sir Mark Cubbon and
Lewin Bentham Bowring, the palace was reportedly in poor condition. The palace could not accommodate the expanding administrative staff, leading to the construction of
Attara Kacheri in 1867, which housed the general and revenue secretariat of the state.
Planning and Foundation After
India's independence on 15 August 1947, Bengaluru became the capital of Mysore State, with the two houses temporarily moving into
Attara Kacheri, a
British-built building in
Cubbon Park that housed the
High Court of Mysore. Later, the State Government sought to establish a new legislative building. Chief Minister Kengal Hanumanthaiah advocated for a structure rooted in indigenous architectural traditions, viewing the Attara Kacheri as representative of colonial authority. With the need for a more spacious quarters, a new building with two floors to accommodate both the houses was planned and the foundation stone of the building was laid by
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first
Prime Minister of India on 13 July 1951 during the tenure of Sri
K.C. Reddy, the first
Chief Minister of Karnataka, then
Mysore state, (1947-1952). Historians have linked the design of Vidhana Soudha to two historical events. In 1954, the
Soviet diplomats raised questions about the dominant presence of European architecture in the city to Chief Minister
Kengal Hanumanthaiah during their official visit to Bengaluru.
Winston Churchill’s 1931 remark on
Mahatma Gandhi, describing him as a “half-naked fakir striding up the viceregal steps,” led the State Government to choose a Dravidian-style architecture for the new legislative building.
Kengal Hanumanthaiah, who was elected as
chief minister of
Mysore state after the
1952 election revised the plan. The new plan included accommodating other government offices, archives, a library and a banquet hall in the same building with artistic elements added representing the tradition of Mysore state. The final plan for the construction was prepared under the leadership of the Chief Engineer,
B. R. Manickam. The project attracted criticism from opposition leaders, who accused the government of excessive spending. Subsequently, an Inquiry Committee headed by a retired judge, P. P. Deo, was appointed to examine the claims. Kengal Hanumanthaiah resigned as Chief Minister in 1956 for political reasons and was later re-elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly after the unification of
Karnataka State. According to The New Indian Express, Kengal Hanumanthaiah wanted the building to represent democratic institutions such as the
British House of Commons and the
United States Capitol. After the unification of state in 1957, the Legislative Assembly had 208 members. The strength was later increased to 216 in 1967 and to 224 in 1978, while the Legislative Council expanded from 63 members in 1957 to 75 members in 1987. Scholars and commentators have described Vidhana Soudha as a symbol of democratic governance, in contrast to the Mysore Palace, which is often associated with royal authority during the pre-independence period. ==Construction==