According to the ADR report ‘15th Legislative Assembly of Karnataka: Analysis of Performance of MLAs’, 150 sittings were held, and the longest was the 12th session, from February 14, 2022, to March 30, 2022, with 26 sittings.
The Karnataka legislative assembly sat for only 25 days a year on average between 2018 and 2023, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) stated on Thursday.
According to the report ‘15th Legislative Assembly of Karnataka: Analysis of Performance of MLAs’, 150 sittings were held, and the longest was the 12th session, from February 14, 2022, to March 30, 2022, with 26 sittings.
ADR and the Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) filed RTIs to the Karnataka assembly secretariat asking for information about the performance of the MLAs and the legislative assembly. The ADR and KEW jointly released the report on Wednesday.
The report analysed the MLAs from the 224 constituencies in the state – including those who resigned and those who were elected in the subsequent by-polls.
The ADR report on the analysis of the performance of MLAs revealed that Janata Dal (Secular) or JD (S) leader KS Lingesh and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Channappa Mallappa Nimbannavar attended all 150 sittings. The two others from the BJP, GB Jyothiganesh and Sanjeeva Matandoor, had 99% attendance each, the report added.
With 107 days of attendance, the JD(S) topped the party-wise average attendance. The BJP had 99 days, while the Congress had the lowest among the three major parties in Karnataka with 95 days, and independent MLAs 93 days, the report said.
The report also revealed that Congress MLA from Shantinagar Assembly constituency in Bengaluru, NA Harris, asked the most questions - 591 - and recorded 84% attendance.
The average number of questions asked by 35 JD(S) MLAs was 163, while the MLAs from Congress and BJP asked 142 and 90 questions, respectively, the report said.
The highest number of questions asked in the assembly were related to general administration, finance/revenue, social welfare, education, and Jal Shakti Vibhag, the report said.
A total of 214 bills were tabled in the 15th assembly, out of which, 202 (94%) were passed.
The former chief minister and Opposition leader Siddaramaiah had 30% attendance in the 150 sittings held, while Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D K Shivakumar recorded an attendance of 39%. Meanwhile, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai recorded an attendance of only 24%, the report said.