Effective majority
Topic: Amendment of the Constitution and the Basic Structure · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
An effective majority is more than half of a House's effective strength. Effective strength means the total membership minus the vacant seats. It is used mainly to remove presiding officers and the Vice-President.
Example
It is required to:
- remove the Vice-President (Art. 67(b));
- remove the Lok Sabha Speaker or Deputy Speaker (Art. 94(c));
- remove the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman (Art. 90(c));
- remove the presiding officers of state legislatures (Art. 179(c)).
So if some seats in a House are empty, the vacant seats are left out before the halfway mark is worked out.
Don't confuse with
- Absolute majority: more than half of the total membership, with vacancies still counted.
- Special majority: a majority of total membership and two-thirds of those present and voting. It is used for constitutional amendments and for removing judges.