Parliament of India

Indian Parliament is of bicameral type. Rajya Sabha is the upper house and Lok Sabha is the lower house. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Sansad Bhavan (located on the Sansad Marg or "Parliament Street") in New Delhi. Those elected or nominated (by the President) to either house of Parliament are referred to as members of parliament or MPs.

Lok Sabha (House of People) (also known as Lower House)

Strength

Maximum Strength: 552 out of which upto 530 Members represent the States, upto 20 Members represent the Union Territory and not more than 2 Members of Anglo-Indian community to be nominated by President of India, if President is of the opinion that the community is not adequately represented in the house.

Actual Strength: 545 (States: 530, UT: 13, Nominated: 2 )  

Members (of Parliament)

Members of Lok Sabha are representatives of people chosen by direct election. Total elective membership is distributed among the states in such a manner that the ratio between number of seats allocated to each state is and the population of each state is same of all states.

Tenure

Lok Sabha continues for 5 years, unless dissolved earlier. During emergency, it can be extended for not more than 1 year.

Presiding Officers

Speaker & Deputy Speaker is elected by the Members of Lok Sabha, among themselves.

Rajya Sabha (Council of States) (also known as Upper House)

Strength

Maximum Strength: 250 out of which 238 are to be elected and 12 are to be

nominated by the President of India.

Actual Strength: 245 (233 + 12) – 5 seats are vacant

Members (of Parliament)

Members of Rajya Sabha are elected by the elected members of the Assemblies of States and Union territories in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. Representation of members from states is based on its population for e.g. Uttar Pradesh has 31 members while Mizoram has only 1. Also from Union Territories only 4 members are elected (3 from Delhi and 1 from Pudducherry), other Union territories do not represent in Rajya Sabha.

Tenure

Rajya Sabha is a permanent House and is not subject to dissolution.  However, one-third Members of Rajya Sabha retire after every second year.  A member who is elected for a full term serves for a period of six years.  The election held to fill a vacancy arising otherwise than by retirement of a member on the expiration of his term of office is called ‘Bye-election’. A member elected in a bye-election remains member for the remainder of the term of the member who had resigned or died or disqualified to be member of the House under the Tenth Schedule.

Presiding Officers

Chairman of the House: Vice President of India. He is elected by Members of electoral college consisting of Members of both Houses of the Parliament.

Deputy Chairman is elected by the Members of Rajya Sabha, among themselves.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lok_Sabha

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_India

3. http://rajyasabha.nic.in/

4. http://loksabha.nic.in/