The Legislative Assembly began with the formation of a Legislative Council in the princely state of Travancore in 1888. This was the first local Legislature in the Indian subcontinent, outside British India. The Legislative Council of Travancore had undergone many changes by years. In the meantime, people's participation in the Assembly was widely sought. All those efforts led to the formation of one more representative body, namely the Sri Moolam Popular Assembly of Travancore. This Assembly of the representatives of the landholders and merchants, aimed at giving the people an opportunity of bringing to the notice of Government their requirements, wishes or grievances on the one hand, and on the other, to make the policy and measures of Government better known to the people so that all possible grounds of misconception may be removed. That was on 1 October 1904.