The Delhi Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, functioning as the legislative arm of the local government. It is an institution established by a special constitutional arrangement to provide a representative government for the national capital.
The Assembly's current form was established by the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991, which inserted Article 239AA into the Constitution, and was supplemented by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991. This framework was created to solve the problem of providing democratic self-governance to Delhi, which had been a Union Territory under the direct administration of the President since its first assembly, constituted on March 7, 1952, was abolished on November 1, 1956, following the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. The first assembly under the new framework was constituted in November 1993.
The Assembly consists of 70 members chosen by direct election and has a tenure of five years. Article 239AA(3)(a) grants the Assembly power to make laws on matters in the State List and Concurrent List, except for public order, police, and land (Entries 1, 2, and 18 of the State List). The Council of Ministers, headed by the Chief Minister, is collectively responsible to the Assembly. The head of the administration is the Lieutenant Governor (LG), appointed under Article 239, who acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, except in matters where the LG is required to act in discretion.
The Assembly's powers have been significantly curtailed by recent amendments. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, mandated that the term 'government' in any law enacted by the Assembly shall mean the LG, and required the elected government to obtain the LG's opinion on all executive actions. Furthermore, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023, removed 'services' from the legislative competence of the Assembly and established the National Capital Civil Services Authority (NCCSA) to recommend transfers and postings of officials to the LG. This effectively reversed the Supreme Court's judgment of May 11, 2023, which had granted the Delhi government control over administrative services.