Under Article 170, the total number of members of a state Legislative Assembly shall not exceed:

Article 170(1) provides that the Legislative Assembly of each state shall consist of not more than 500 and not less than 60 members chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies in the state.

The two limits:

• Upper limit: 500 members.
• Lower limit: 60 members.
• These limits ensure that Assemblies are neither too large to function nor too small to represent the people adequately.

Exceptions to the minimum:

• Some small states have fewer than 60 members because of special provisions.
• Sikkim has 32 members.
• Goa and Mizoram have 40 members each.
• Arunachal Pradesh has 60 members, the minimum.

Union territories with Assemblies:

• Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir have Legislative Assemblies under special provisions and laws of Parliament.
• Puducherry has 30 elected members and up to 3 nominated members.

Largest Assemblies:

• No state has an Assembly of the maximum size of 500.
• Even the largest Assembly in the country has well under 500 members.

How seats are fixed:

• The total number of seats in each Assembly is fixed on the basis of population.
• The numbers are frozen on the basis of the 1971 census until after the first census taken after 2026.

Comparison with the Lok Sabha:

The Lok Sabha can have up to 550 elected members under Article 81.

Comparison with Legislative Councils:

A Legislative Council can have a maximum of one-third of the members of the Assembly, but not fewer than 40.

Duration:

• An Assembly normally lasts for five years from its first meeting, unless dissolved earlier.
• During a National Emergency, Parliament can extend its term by one year at a time.

Why not the other options?

• ✗400, 450 and 600 are not the maximum laid down in Article 170.