HYDERABAD: In poll-bound Telangana, the legislative assembly met for less than 20 days in a year on an average, and the pattern has continued for the last six years.
The trend is not confined to Telangana. The other four election-bound states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, too, have nothing to boast about, as their assemblies met for less than 30 days on an average in a year.
Data collated by PRS Legislative Research (available with TOI) on the functioning of the legislative bodies in the five states shows assembly sessions are getting shorter over the years. For instance, the Rajasthan assembly used to meet for 59 days every year in the first decade of the state's formation, which has now fallen to 29 days, as the trend between 2019 and 2023 shows.
According to PRS, an independent research institute, the Telangana assembly saw its maximum sittings in 2017, when the house met for 37 days.
Since then, it has been a downhill as the state assembly has met for less than 20 days in an entire year,” PRS said.
Telangana also had the least number of sitting days compared to other states in their first 10 years of formation.
Madhya Pradesh assembly used to meet for 48 days in a year in its early years. Now, it sits only for 21 days in a year, a PRS researcher said. Telangana had only 15 average working days of the a ssembly in the last five years, while MP, Mizoram and Rajasthan had 16, 18 and 29, re spectively.
The Telangana assembly was also quick in wrapping up budget discussions compared to the other four states. An average of five days went into discussion on budgets in Telangana, while MP took a day less.
The Rajasthan assembly spent the highest number of 12 days for discussing the state budget, while Mizoram trailed at 7 days, followed by Chhattisgarh, which spent six days to wind up budget discussi on. Telangana stood second in issuing the number (14) of ordinances between 2019 and 2023, while Madhya Pradesh issued 39 ordinances and Rajasthan 13 during the same period. States issue ordinances when the assemblies are not in session.
In Telangana, eight ordinances were issued in 2019 alone, four in 2020 and two in 2021. “No ordinances were issued in 2022 and 2023,” an official said.
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