Types of Majority, Quorum, Sessions and Joint Sitting: Who Needs How Many Votes

Majority Is Not One Number: Four Kinds, Four Uses

When the newspaper says a bill 'was passed by a majority', the Constitution actually has four different kinds of majority behind that word, and each is used for different decisions. Examiners love this chapter because it is pure matching: an action on one side, a count on the other, and the wrong count sitting right beside the correct one. Ordinary laws need only a simple majority, while amending the Constitution, removing a judge or removing the Vice-President each need something stricter and different. Around the votes sit three more facts that are asked just as often: the quorum needed to hold a meeting, the maximum gap between sessions, and the joint sitting that settles a deadlock between the two Houses. This short gives each rule, one worked example each, and a decision table you can memorise.

1. What is the quorum required to hold a meeting of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha?

2. What is the maximum permitted gap between two sessions of Parliament?

3. A joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament under Article 108 CANNOT be called for which of the following?

4. Who presides over a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament?

5. A resolution to remove the Vice-President of India requires which kind of majority?

6. What does 'effective majority' mean?

7. Which majority is required for a constitution amendment under Article 368 (outside the federal provisions)?

8. The Lok Sabha has 543 elected seats. How many members make an absolute majority of the House?