Main points related to central legislature established by Government Act, 1919 are given below:
1. By this Act, central legislature was transformed into bicameral legislature from unicameral. Under it, upper house was named as state council and lower house as legislative assembly.
2. Under this Act, number of members in the state council was fixed 60. out of which 33 members were elected and remaining 23 were nominated by the viceroy.
3. In the legislative assembly, there were 140 members. After the reconstitution, this number was increased to 145, out of which 104 were elected (52 from general category), 32 were from communal constituencies (30 by Muslims and 2 by Sikhs), and 20 from specific constituencies (7 zamindars, 9 Europeans and 4 from chamber of commerce).
4. The tenure of state council was 5 years, and that of legislative assembly was 3 years.
5. The viceroy had a right to dissolve any house of central legislature even before completion of its tenure.
6. Every member of the executive council of viceroy was also an official member of either house. But he could attend both the houses and take active part in discussion.
7. The rights of central legislature were also increased.
8. The members were given full right of freedom to express their opinions. They could also ask supplementary questions. They had the right to form laws. They could discuss over the budget and had partial right to vote. The members were given the right to table different proposals in both the houses or to stop their working.
