M Reyaz BeyondHeadlines
New Delhi: Amongst five states going for polls, Kerala Assembly sat for maximum days in its full five year terms while Puducherry sat for least number of days, according to data released by The New Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Kerala legislative assembly sat for 240 days in last five years, an average of 48 days every year. In contrast Puducherry assembly sat only for 123 days, averaging only 25 each year. Assam too sat for only 131 days. Tamil Nadu and West Bangal sat for 214 and 219 days, respectively.
West Bengal also held the longest session when it sat for 42 days in 2010. The shortest sessions again were in Puducherry, where on three occasions the budget session lasted only a day.
Tamil Nadu passed the largest number of bills (225) with West Bengal on the second, though way behind with 149 bills.
NEW has also compared and analysed the performance and attendance of individual legislatures of states going for polls. Information of individual MLAs on Bengal, however, are not available.
Compared to the Lok Sabha, which itself sits for small number of days, the performances of state assemblies have been very poor. The lower house of the parliament sat for 135 days in last 1.5 year, an average of 90 days.
In its Press Release, NEW-ADR demanded, “Political parties include the parameters for functioning of Legislatures in their Election Manifestoes and give tickets to candidates suitable for legislative work.”
