Who is an MLA? | NCERT Solutions For Class 7 Civics Social Science Chapter 3 How the State Government Works

 Who is MLA?

विधायक कौन है?

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are elected by the people. They then become members of the legislative assembly and also form the government.In this way we say that the MLAs represent people.

Let's understand by a state example:

आइए एक राज्य के उदाहरण से समझते हैं:

Himachal Pradesh is divided into 68 assembly constituencies. From each constituency, the people elect one representative who then becomes a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). You would have noticed that people stand for  elections in the name of different parties. These MLAs, therefore, belong to different political parties.

Every state is divided in various areas called constituencies.

   Election result of 2017 in Himachal Pradesh

Results of the Assembly Elections in Himachal Pradesh in 2017
Political party	Number of MLAs elected
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	44
Indian National Congress (INC)	21
Independents (who don’t belong to any party)	2
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	1

Chief minister- After the elections, the MLAs belonging to the ruling party will elect their leader who will become the chief minister.The chief minister then selects other people as ministers. After the elections, it is the Governor of the state who appoints the chief minister and other ministers.

Like the chief minister, various departments run by other various ministers. A Legislative Assembly is a place where all the MLAs, whether from the ruling party or from the opposition meet to discuss various things. Hence, some MLAs have dual responsibilities: one as an MLA and the other as a minister. 

Working of the government 

सरकार का कार्य

The Legislative Assembly is not the only place where opinions are expressed about the work of the government and action is demanded. There are various ways how people and ministers can take actions in democracy.

The chief minister and other ministers, if they have to take steps or action for any problem or work. They need to go through various departments like the Public Works Department, the Agriculture Department, the Health Department, the Education Department and so on, to complete certain scheme implementations. 

Secondly, governments in power need to give answers to all questions asked by the opposition on the behalf of the public,plus the media. These answers have to be satisfying for all opposition, media and public. These answers are given by government in assembly 

Third , the government also makes laws on certain issues in the Legislative Assembly of each state. The various government departments then implement these laws. Laws for the entire country are made in the Parliament.

In the end, democracy is the system where the people elect their representatives as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and, thus, it is the people who have the main authority. The ruling party members then form the government and some members are appointed ministers.