Elections to 28 seats across the Legislative Councils of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka were held today (October 23), with results to be declared on Tuesday.

Unlike elections for Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), not every adult citizen is eligible to vote for Members of the Legislative Councils (MLCs). Not all states have Legislative Councils, either. So why are these bodies a part of India’s political system, and what importance do they hold?

Just like the Indian Union has a bicameral legislature, comprising the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha , some states have a Legislative Assembly and a Legislative Council . Six states — the four mentioned earlier plus Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — currently have them.

Chakshu Roy, head of outreach at PRS Legislative Research, earlier wrote for The Indian Express that the colonial history of the system traces back to the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, which led to the formation of the Council of State at the national level in 1919.…