The minimum number of members who must be present for a House of Parliament to conduct business validly.
- Article 100(3) fixes the quorum at one-tenth of the total number of members of the House, including the Presiding Officer.
- For the Lok Sabha (543 members) the quorum is 55; for the Rajya Sabha (245 members) it is 25.
- If there is no quorum, the Presiding Officer must adjourn the House or suspend the sitting until a quorum is present.
- The same one-tenth rule is applied to State legislatures under Article 189(3).
- It ensures that decisions are not taken by an unrepresentatively small group.
The one-tenth fraction and the specific numbers (55 and 25) are clean numerical facts well suited to objective questions.
Quorum is one-tenth of total strength (including the chair), not a simple majority; absence of quorum leads to adjournment, not to a vote being lost.
Article 100(3): quorum is one-tenth of the House; 55 in the Lok Sabha, 25 in the Rajya Sabha.