Madhya Pradesh Assembly met for an average 16 days per year, report shows

According to the ADR report, 91 per cent of bills introduced in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly were passed and as many as 29,484 questions have been asked by its members

Ahead of Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has released its report in which it revealed that the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly sat for an average of only 16 days per year, with a high of 26 sittings in 2019, while it managed only four sittings in 2020.

ADR is a non-profit organisation, which discloses the criminal, financial, and educational background of the candidates contesting elections.

According to the ADR report, 91 per cent of bills introduced in the Assembly were passed, and as many as 29,484 questions have been asked by its members.

Out of the 29,484 questions asked in the Assembly, the highest number (2,205), were asked on urban development and housing, followed closely by panchayat and rural development (2,056) while the fewest questions were asked on women and child development.

The Assembly sat for 116.83 hours in 2019 and 1.53 hours in 2020, said the report. Five MPs with the highest attendance (97 per cent) are members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it added.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had the highest mean attendance, with their members attending an average of 65 sittings each, the report said, adding that the Indian National Congress (INC) had the lowest attendance, with an average of 43 sittings each.

Earlier, in its report, ADR said that 93 out of 230 sitting MLAs in Madhya Pradesh have criminal cases registered against them.

Of these 93 MLAs having criminal cases, 39 belong to the BJP, 52 belong to the Congress, one from the BSP and the remaining one is independent.

Apart from this, among the 93 MLAs, 47 have serious criminal cases, one MLA has a case of murder (IPC Section 302) registered against him, six MLAs have cases of attempt to murder (IPC 307) and two MLAs have cases of crime against women (IPC 354), the report added.