Ansari bats for upper house of legislature

"The bicameralism of the legislature is relevant as it provides a balance of the constituent interests within its institutional structure and gives a second opportunity to the elected representatives to have a second thought at the proposed legislations," he told the conclusion function of the Bihar legislative council centenary celebrations at the Srikrishna Memorial Hall here.

The second chamber in parliamentary democracies assumed significance in decentralization of the state legislative structures by giving representation to the unrepresented and under-represented segments of opinion, Ansari said.

Even the founding fathers of the Constitution had specifically noted the importance of the second chamber for representation of special interest of classes as a check on hasty and ill-conceived legislation of the lower house and to provide equal representation to different constituent units, he said.

A member of the constituent assembly Gopalaswami Aiyangar had supported the creation of the Upper House for similar reasons and concluded that "the balance of consideration is in favour of having such a chamber and taking care to see that it does not prove a clog either to legislation or administration," he said.