Elected to represent their constituencies and raise issues concerning the welfare of people, some legislators chose to remain mute spectators during the sessions of previous Haryana Vidhan Sabha. Neither did they ask questions in the House nor did they give call attention notices for discussions on any issue. After coming to power in Haryana, the BJP government batted for longer sessions of the Vidhan Sabha that was known to have among the lowest duration of sittings in the country under the previous Congress government. Information procured by The Indian Express under the Right to Information Act reveals that the sessions held between 2010 and 2014 (the tenure of the Congress government) did not witness participation by some members. In the 90-member House, 59 MLAs asked questions in the 57 sittings during the 2010-14 period. Of these 59, only a few were active in seeking answers. The remaining asked even less than 10 questions. From among the 59 who raised questions, 30 did not ask a single question in the second session held in 2010, and 17 were such who did not ask any questions in the second as well as the third session. A total of 17 members in the House did not ask a single question. [related-post] Among the MLAs who asked most questions was Congress MLA Sampat Singh, the then MLA from Nalwa. He asked 84 starred questions and 202 unstarred questions. The BJP did not have much presence in the House with just three of its leaders being MLAs. That, however, didn’t stop the present Health Minister Anil Vij, who had asked 82 starred and 24 unstarred questions. The present Haryana Women and Child Development Minister Kavita Jain asked 52 starred and 23 unstarred questions. It was the MLAs of the INLD, 30 in number, who raised the most questions. Col Raghubir Singh asked 76 starred and 55 unstarred questions. Another active member of the last Vidhan Sabha was INLD’s Ram Pal Majra who asked 94 starred questions and 33 unstarred questions. Party’s MLA Ajay Singh Chautala put 26 starred and 13 unstarred questions in the House, while Abhay Singh Chautala asked 14 starred questions and 11 unstarred questions. The performance of several MLAs remained dismal. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Om Prakash Chautala did not ask a single question in the House. Congress MLA Savitri Jindal was appointed Cabinet Minister in 2013. Before that her performance in the House was dismal. She asked 17 questions in four sessions and no questions in the first two sessions. O P Jain asked two questions in the eighth session in 2013. Mohmed Illiyas asked eight starred questions in nine sessions, while Anil Dhantori asked three. The records procured under RTI show a reveal a similar situation regarding Calling Attention notices that are given to draw attention of the House to important issues. Of the 90 MLAs, around 35 gave Calling Attention notices on different issues. Among the most active of the members were Congress’ Sampat Singh, BJP’s Anil Vij and several MLAs of the INLD including Ashok Kumar Arora, Ram Pal Majra, Col Raghubir Singh and Ajay Singh Chautala. Om Prakash Chautala had also given Calling Attention notice to seek adjournment of business of Assembly for discussing the matter of rising prices of essential commodities. The MLAs called attention to several issues including shortage of medical staff, shortage of drinking water, non-payment of dues by sugarcane mills, unemployment, depletion of ground water table and introducing student elections among other issues. Land acquisition and allotment remained a contentious issue for which discussion was sought more than once during the tenure of the previous Congress government.
