A HOUSE NEVER FULL

The House, which used to meet for at least 120 days a year in the 60s, now hardly meets for 45 days. From the good old days when members would not miss the House in session even for a day, the situation has slided to a level where there are only a dozen-odd MLAs in the current Assembly whose attendance is over 50 per cent.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that there have been calls for codifying rules to specify as to how many days Assemblies should meet in a year and for stricter rules of attendance.

Assembly’s composition, attendance rules

The state Assembly has 288 members. Barring the Chief Minister, Speaker, Leader of the Opposition and the ministers, all other members are required to sign the attendance register. Based on their attendance, MLAs get Rs 1000 each as their daily allowance for attending the House.

There are no strict rules for those who do not attend the House regularly. The only rule in the matter is contained in Article 190 of the Indian Constitution, which states that if if an MLA is absent from the House for a period of 60 days without the permission of the Chair, his or her seat may be declared vacant. However, in computing the 60-day period, the period in which the House is prorogued or adjourned for more than four days is not factored in.

Interestingly, in the entire history of the Maharashtra Assembly, only one member, Congress MLA from Sangamner Datta Deshmukh, was suspended for being absent from the House in the 1960s. At the time, Deshmukh was arrested for leading an agitation and jailed for a considerable time.

“When you are elected by the people, you owe it to them to make your presence felt in the Assembly. Attending the House not only gives you the forum to raise issues of your constituency, but it also gives you an insight into what is happening in the state, which is very important for any politician. Sadly, the seriousness seems to be lacking in many people these days,” says octogenarian politician Ganpatrao Deshmukh, who was elected MLA from Sangola for a record 10 times.

Party-wise attendance in 12th Assembly

The current Assembly, which was convened on November 9, 2009, has held 16 sessions in the last five years, which extended over a total of 225 days. An analysis by the Newsline shows the average attendance record of Opposition MLAs is much better than that of the ruling combine.

Among parties in the state, the Shiv Sena, which has 46 MLAs, has the best attendance record. On average, its MLAs were present for 181 of the 225 days that the House was in session during the last five years. Its best performers are Subhash Desai, Ravindra Waikar and R M Vani, who have an average attendance of 209 days. The worst was Suresh Dada Jain, who attended the House only for 68 days due to a stint in jail.

The average attendance of 46 BJP MLAs stands at 180 days, the best among them being Girish Bapat from Kasbapeth in Pune who attended the House for 217 days. The worst was Rahuri MLA Shivajirao Kardile, who came for 137 days. State BJP chief Devendra Fadnavis attended the House for 215 days in the last five years.

In the ruling combine, the average attendance of Congress MLAs was 175 days. The best in the lot was Ashok Jadhav, MLA from Andheri West, who was present for 217 days. The worst was Rajeev Satav from Kalamnuri, who was present only for 43 of the total 225 days.

NCP MLAs had an average attendance record of 174 days. The best performer was Airoli MLA Sanjeev Naik, who attended the House for all the 225 days. The worst was Satara MLA Shivendra Singh Bhonsle, who came for only 116 days.

The MNS has the dubious distinction of having the worst attendance record, with its 12 MLAs coming to the House only for 163 days on an average. The best in the party was Nashik East MLA Uttamrao Dhikle, who attended the House for 211 days. The worst was Kannad MLA Harshvardhan Jadhav, who came to the House only for 58 days. Jadhav, said to be unhappy in the MNS, had stopped attending the House without quitting the party.

Calls for accountability

There have been rising number of calls for accountability among the elected representatives by ensuring their presence in the House and also on how long they allow the House to function. The present duration of a legislative session is decided by the Business Advisory Committee comprising ministers and leaders of Opposition parties. The writ of the ruling party runs large since it gets to decide the duration of a session to get its Bills passed. The Opposition is not allowed much time to corner the government.

“Assembly sessions should extend over a minimum of 100 to 120 days every year. The present duration of the House sessions is too short to carry out fruitful discussions,” BJP MLA Girish Bapat says.

Political observers say that in developed countries like the United States, legislative bodies meet for up to 150 days a year, which is almost thrice the duration that Maharashtra Assembly sits for every year. Even though Maharashtra fares better among other states in India in this regard, analysts say there is still scope for improvement.

There have also been demands for some rules to ensure MLAs attend the House regularly as also for more accountability from political parties on the behaviour of their legislators. “There are laws governing the behaviour of all members of the society barring elected representatives. They do not seem to be keen on any law to monitor their functioning. They do not want to be under scrutiny,” Maj. Gen. Anil Verma (Retd), who heads the National Election Watch, Association for Democratic Reforms.

However, MLAs say being visible in their constituencies is a lot more important than marking their presence in the Legislative Assembly.

“A 100 per cent attendance is not compulsory. Moreover, it is more important to attend to the concerns of my constituency by being readily available for them. Attending the House is important, but I do not think it is compulsory,” an MLA with an abysmal attendance record says.
Senior politicians, however, say such attitude was slowly diluting the quality of legislators in the state.

“A legislator needs to realise that he does not only represent the constituency but also the entire state. Limiting yourself to an area severely narrows your worldview and you do not get a sense of what is happening in the state,” MLA Ganpatrao Deshmukh says.

zeeshan.shaikh@expressindia.com