The House of the People, the directly elected lower house of Parliament (Article 81), to which the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible; it has a normal term of five years.
India's lower house descends from the Central Legislative Assembly of the Government of India Act 1919, but its democratic base is entirely new. The first general elections of 1951–52, held on universal adult franchise in a largely illiterate country, produced the first Lok Sabha in 1952, an achievement that many observers had thought impossible.
Over time the House has changed in size, composition and character. Its seats were allocated among states by population, but the 42nd Amendment froze this allocation on the basis of the 1971 census to avoid penalising states that controlled population growth; the freeze was extended by the 84th Amendment until the first census after 2026. The two seats once reserved for nominated Anglo-Indian members were discontinued by the 104th Amendment in 2020. The 18th Lok Sabha was constituted in June 2024.
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