Consider the following statements: 1) The Legislative Council of a state in India can be larger in size than half of the Legislative Assembly of that particular state. 2) The Governor of a state nominates the Chairman of Legislative Council of that particular state. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Both statements are false, so the answer is D. The core concept is the composition of State Legislative Councils under Articles 171 and 182.

• Statement 1 is wrong. Article 171(1) caps a Legislative Council at one-third of the Legislative Assembly's strength, with a floor of 40 members. Since the cap is one-third, the council cannot be larger than half the assembly. The 40 floor could in theory exceed half only in a very small assembly (under 80 seats). No bicameral state today has an assembly that small, so the statement fails in practice.
• Statement 2 is wrong. Under Article 182, the Legislative Council elects its own Chairman (Sabhapati) and Deputy Chairman from among its members. The Governor nominates only a fixed share of members under Article 171(5), for literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service. The Chairman is not a gubernatorial nominee.

This links to the Mains theme of bicameralism at the state level and why only six states (now including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after the 2014 reorganisation) have councils, which requires a Parliament resolution under Article 169.

Trap: Aspirants mix up the Governor's nomination power under Article 171(5) with the election of the Chairman under Article 182, and they often wrongly treat the 40-member floor as a license to exceed one-third.