Functioning of the 13th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly

Elections for the 14^th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly will be held on October 21, 2019.  The 13^th Assembly held its sessions from October 2014 to September 2019.  This document analyses the working of the 13^th Assembly between 2015 and 2018 (excluding the second session of 2016 for which we could not get data).

The Assembly worked for 112% of its scheduled time

·   The Assembly is scheduled to meet for 6 hours a day, Monday to Friday, when it is in session.  The 13^th Assembly worked for 112% of its scheduled time, i.e.,an average of 6 hours 44 minutes per day.

·   The most productive session was the first session of 2015 (139% of the scheduled time), followed by the fourth session of 2017 (130%).  The first session of 2017 had the least productivity (64% of the scheduled time), followed by the second session of 2017 (67%).

·   Over the five years, the Assembly met for a total of 222 days.  This is an average of 44 days a year, higher than the Legislative Assemblies of most other states.

53% of MLAs were younger than 55 years

·   The Maharashtra state legislative assembly has a strength of 288 elected members and one nominated member from the Anglo-Indian community.

·   47% of MLAs were between the ages of 41 and 55 years, and 42% were between 56 and 70 years.

·   43% of MLAs were educated upto higher secondary level. 53% of MLAs had at least a bachelors degree, of which 10% had a post-graduate degree and 2% had a doctorate.

7% of starred questions received an oral answer

Note : Sessions 2016 – III and 2017 – II had one and three days of functioning respectively.

·   The Assembly starts every day with Question Hour.  Members use it to hold the government accountable for its policies and actions. 

·   A starred question receives an oral answer from the relevant Minister.  Between 2015 and 2018, excluding the second session of 2016, a total number of 9,548 starred questions were accepted.  7% of these questions received an oral answer from the Minister.

46 half-an-hour discussions were conducted in the house

·   Where an answer to a question needs further explanation, an MLA may raise a half-an-hour discussion.

·   Between 2015 to 2018, excluding the second session of 2016, a total number of 575 notices were received for half-an-hour discussion.

·   350 of these notices were accepted and 46 were discussed in the House.

·   On average 3.5 half-an-hour discussions were conducted in the house in each session.

371 calling attention motions were discussed in the House

·   An MLA, in his individual capacity, may call the attention of a Minister to any mattter of urgent public importance, to which the Minister gives a response.

·   27,585 notices of calling attention motion were received between 2015 to 2018 and 1,121 notices were accepted.

·   371 calling attention motions were discussed in the House.