Puducherry Legislative Assembly

In 1946, French India (Inde française) became Overseas territory (Territoire d'outre-mer) of France. Then a Representative Assembly (Assemblée représentative) was created. Thus, in 1946, on 25 October, the representative assembly of 44 members has replaced the general council (conseil général).^[4] The Representative Assembly had 44 seats until merger of Chandernagore in 1951. Later, it reduced to 39 seats.

The French government transferred the four enclaves to the Indian Union under a de facto treaty on 1 November 1954.^[5] Later the territory was merged with India on 16 August 1962.

On 10 May 1963, the Indian Parliament enacted the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 that came into force on 1 July 1963. This introduced the same pattern of government that prevailed in the rest of the country, but subject to certain limitations.^[6] Under Article 239 of the Indian Constitution, the President of India appoints an Administrator LG with such designation as he may specify to head the administration of the territory. The President also appoints the Chief Minister. The President, on the advice of the Chief Minister, appoints the other Ministers. The Union Territories Act, 1963 limits the number of elected members of the assembly to 30 and allows the central government to appoint not more than 3 nominated MLAs. The same act ensures that seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes in the legislative assembly.

The Representative Assembly was converted into the Legislative Assembly of Pondicherry on 1 July 1963 as per Section 54(3) of The Union Territories Act, 1963^[6] and its members were deemed to have been elected to the Assembly.^[7]: 966 Thus, the First Legislative Assembly was formed without an election. Elections for the assembly have been held since 1964.

Very few state/union territory legislative assemblies have nominated MLAs and their voting powers are limited with Puducherry being the only exception. In 2021, the Supreme Court of India has clarified two important aspects related to the nominated MLAs.^{[note 4]}. The first one is about their nomination. The court held that as per the 1963 act the Government of India is empowered to nominate the MLAs even without consulting the Government of Puducherry. The second one is about the voting power of the nominated MLAs.^[9] The court also held that the nominated MLAs enjoy voting powers at par with elected MLAs, as the 1963 law per se did not differentiate between the nominated MLAs from the elected ones.^[10]

Puducherry has five official names, owing to its linguistic diversity, past French heritage, and the legacy of British India.^[11] The legislative assembly is referred to as follows:

• English: Puducherry Legislative Assembly
• French: Assemblée législative de Pondichéry
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The current Legislative Assembly is located in the rue Victor Simonel in a colonial-era building that was originally a medical college. The college was relocated to another location and since 1969 the building has been used for the assembly.^[12]

• List of constituencies of Puducherry Legislative Assembly
• List of chief ministers of Puducherry
• List of leaders of the opposition in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly
• List of lieutenant governors of Puducherry
• List of speakers of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly
• Puducherry (Lok Sabha constituency)
• List of Rajya Sabha members from Puducherry
• Puducherry Municipal Council
• Yanam Municipal Council

• Pouducherry Legislative Assembly
• Member of Legislative Assembly of Puducherry 2006-11