Updated: 18 September 2026
Articles 98, 99 and 100 of the Constitution of India
Articles 98 to 100 form part of the constitutional framework governing Parliament. They deal respectively with the separate secretarial staff of the two Houses, the oath or affirmation required before a member takes a seat, and the rules on voting, vacancies and quorum.
Article 98 - Secretariat of Parliament
Meaning: Article 98 provides the constitutional basis for separate secretarial staff for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, while permitting posts common to both Houses. It also provides the mechanism for regulating recruitment and service conditions.
Clause (1): Each House of Parliament shall have a separate secretarial staff. This does not prevent creation of posts common to both Houses.
Clause (2): Parliament may make a law regulating recruitment and the conditions of service of persons appointed to the secretarial staff of either House.
Clause (3): Until Parliament makes such a law, the President may, after consultation with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, as applicable, make rules regulating recruitment and service conditions. Those rules remain subject to any law later made under clause (2).
In practice, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has recruitment and service rules framed under Article 98(3), and the Rajya Sabha Secretariat likewise operates under its recruitment and conditions of service rules. This arrangement reflects the separate institutional administration contemplated by Article 98.
Article 99 - Oath or affirmation by members
Meaning: Article 99 requires every member of either House of Parliament, before taking a seat, to make and subscribe an oath or affirmation before the President or a person appointed by the President for that purpose. The prescribed form is contained in the Third Schedule to the Constitution.
Article 100 - Voting in Houses, vacancies and quorum
Meaning: Article 100 establishes the ordinary decision-making and quorum rules for sittings of either House and joint sittings, subject to other provisions of the Constitution.
Clause (1) - Majority and casting vote: Questions are ordinarily determined by a majority of the members present and voting. The Speaker, Chairman, or person acting as such does not vote in the first instance but has a casting vote where the votes are equally divided.
Clause (2) - Vacancies: Either House may act despite vacancies in its membership. Parliamentary proceedings do not become invalid merely because it is later discovered that a person not entitled to do so sat, voted or otherwise participated.
Clause (3) - Quorum: Unless Parliament provides otherwise by law, the quorum for a meeting of either House is one-tenth of the total number of members of that House.
Clause (4) - Absence of quorum: If there is no quorum during a meeting, the Chairman, Speaker or person acting as such must adjourn the House or suspend the meeting until quorum is present.
Practical meaning of Articles 98, 99 and 100
Together, these provisions support the functioning of Parliament at three levels. Article 98 concerns the administrative machinery of each House. Article 99 imposes a constitutional formality on members before they take their seats. Article 100 supplies basic rules for collective decision-making and ensures that ordinary vacancies do not, by themselves, disable a House from functioning.
The expression "members present and voting" in Article 100(1) makes the ordinary voting rule depend on votes actually cast by members who are present, subject to any different voting requirement elsewhere in the Constitution. The casting vote provision resolves an equality of votes without giving the presiding officer an ordinary first-instance vote.
Official resources
For the authoritative constitutional text and current parliamentary material, consult the official resources below. The Constitution should be read with applicable amendments and other relevant constitutional provisions.