Introduction

This chapter looks at the legislature — the elected law-making body of a democracy — and asks why it matters so much even in a system that already has an elected executive. Using India's Parliament as the main example, it explains why the country chose two Houses instead of one, what each House can and cannot do, how a bill actually becomes a law, and the different tools Parliament uses to keep the government answerable to the people. It closes by looking at how Parliament keeps its own members in line through privilege, the Speaker's authority, and the anti-defection law. By the end, the aim is to see the legislature not as a noisy sideshow to government, but as the institution that makes representative democracy real.