Part VI
Article 190

Vacation of seats

(1) No person shall be a member of both Houses of the Legislature of a State and provision shall be made by the Legislature of the State by law for the vacation by a person who is chosen a member of both Houses of his seat in one house or the other.

(2) No person shall be a member of the Legislatures of two or more States specified in the First Schedule and if a person is chosen a member of the Legislatures of two or more such States, then, at the expiration of such period as may be specified in rules made by the President, that person’s seat in the Legislatures of all such States shall become vacant, unless he has previously resigned his seat in the Legislatures of all but one of the States.

(3) If a member of a House of the Legislature of a State—

(a) becomes subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in clause (1) or clause (2) of article 191; or

(b) resigns his seat by writing under his hand addressed to the speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be, and his resignation is accepted by the Speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be, his seat shall thereupon become vacant:

Provided that in the case of any resignation referred to in sub-clause (b), if from information received or otherwise and after making such inquiry as he thinks fit, the Speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be, is satisfied that such resignation is not voluntary or genuine, he shall not accept such resignation.

(4) If for a period of sixty days a member of a House of the Legislature of a State is without permission of the House absent from all meetings thereof, the House may declare his seat vacant:

Provided that in computing the said period of sixty days no account shall be taken of any period during which the House is prorogued or is adjourned for more than four consecutive days.

Version 1

Article 166, Draft Constitution 1948

(1) No person shall be a member of both Houses of the Legislature of a State and provision shall be made by the Legislature of the State by law for the vacation by a person who is chosen a member of both Houses of his seat in one House or the other.

(2) No person shall be a member both of Parliament and of the Legislature of a State and if a person is chosen a member both of Parliament and of the Legislature of a State, then, at the expiration of such period as may be specified in rules made by the Governor of the State, that person’s seat in the Legislature of the State shall become vacant, unless he has previously resigned his seat in Parliament.

(3) If a member of a House of the Legislature of a State-

(a) Becomes subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in clause (i) of the next succeeding article; or

(b) Resigns his seat by writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be, his seat shall thereupon become vacant.

(4) If for a period of sixty days a member of a House of the Legislature of a State is without permission of the House absent from all meetings thereof, the House may declare his seat vacant:

Provided that in computing the said period of sixty days no account shall be taken of any period during which the House is prorogued or is adjourned for more than four consecutive days.

Version 2

Article 190, Constitution of India 1950

(1) No person shall be a member of both Houses of the Legislature of a State and provision shall be made by the Legislature of the State by law for the vacation by a person who is chosen a member of both Houses of his seat in one House or the other.

⁠(2) No person shall be a member of the Legislatures of two or more States specified in the First Schedule and if a person is chosen a member of the Legislatures of two or more such States, then, at the expiration of such period as may be specified in rules made by the President, that person’s seat in the Legislatures of all such States shall become vacant, unless he has previously resigned his seat in the Legislatures of all but one of the States.

⁠(3) If a member of a House of the Legislature of a State—

(a) becomes subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in clause (1) of article 191; or
(b) resigns his seat by writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker or the Chairman, as the case may be, his seat shall thereupon become vacant.

⁠(4) If for a period of sixty days a member of a House of the Legislature of a State is without permission of the House absent from all meetings thereof, the House may declare his seat vacant:

Provided that in computing the said period of sixty days no account shall be taken of any period during which the House is prorogued or is adjourned for more than four consecutive days.

Summary

Draft Article 166 (Article 190) was debated on 2 June 1949. It laid down the circumstances in which a member’s seat would be considered vacant.

The Chairman of the Drafting Committee proposed the insertion of the clause (1a) which would render a seat vacant if the concerned member was elected to two or more State Legislatures. In light of the above amendment, he further proposed the deletion of clause (2). Both amendments were accepted without debate.

A member proposed the insertion of a new subclause (c) and (d) to clause (3), which would render a member’s seat vacant in the event of his death, or if he was ‘recalled by the electors in his constituency for failure to properly discharge his duties’. He pointed out that a similar sub-clause on vacancy due to death of an individual applied to the Draft Article 51(Article 62) and 55 (Article 68) regarding vacancies in the office of President and Vice President respectively. This amendment was rejected without debate.

The amended Draft Article was adopted on 2 June 1949.