Functioning of the 13th Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha

 Note: (i) FS – First Session, BS – Budget Session, MS – Monsoon Session, WS – Winter Session; (ii) A one-day special session was held on January 7, 2020.  Data for this session has been included with the 8^th session.

• The 13^th Assembly sat for 15 sessions in total, averaging at three sessions a year. The 10^th session was summoned, but later cancelled.
   
• The Assembly functioned for 139 days in total, with an average of nine sitting days per session. The first and 15^th sessions were the shortest, lasting four days each. Budget sessions were the longest, ranging from 13 to 17 days. On average, non-budget sessions lasted for six days.
   
• State legislatures in India sat for 25 days on average between 2016 and 2021. Himachal Pradesh Assembly sat for 30 days a year during this period, higher than the national average.
   
• The average duration of one sitting was 4.2 hours. The longest sitting was 7 hours and 55 minutes long and was held on March 8, 2022, when the Budget was discussed.

Question Hour held on 124 sitting days

• 73% of notices received for starred and unstarred questions were admitted. Three notices for short notice question were received and only one out of these was admitted. 14% of the admitted starred questions received supplementary questions.
   
• On average, 40 members (over 70% of non-minister members), sent notices for questions in each session. Around 1.3 minutes were spent on each question answered orally in the House.

• Members may ask starred, unstarred or short notice questions to Ministers. Ministers respond to starred and short notice questions orally, to which supplementary questions may be asked. Unstarred questions are answered in writing.

61 Bills passed; 48% Bills passed on the same day of introduction or the day after 

• 62 Bills (excluding Appropriation bills) were introduced in this Assembly. Out of these, 61 have been passed, and 55 have received assent. 48% of Bills (29 out of 61) were passed on the same day of introduction or the day after.

• Two Bills were sent to Select Committees.     These are the Himachal Pradesh Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Himachal Pradesh Agricultural Produce Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2019. The latter was not passed by the end of the Assembly’s term. The Himachal Pradesh Protection of Depositors’ Interest (In Financial Establishments) Amendment Bill, 2018 was withdrawn after passing by the Assembly, since Parliament had passed a similar law.

• 10 Ordinances were promulgated between 2018 and 2022. Nine were replaced by legislation, and one lapsed.
   
• In terms of subjects, the highest number of Bills were related to urban governance (8), taxation (7), and education (6). Some key Bills passed were the Himachal Pradesh Police (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill, 2019, and the Himachal Pradesh Abadi Deh (Record of Rights) Bill, 2021.

 90% of demands were guillotined

• After the budget is presented, it is debated in two stages. First, there is a general discussion on the budget.  The general budget discussion lasted for an average of 14.4 hours every year. On average, 41 members (including ministers) participated in the discussion each year (60% of the strength of the House).
   
• The second stage of the budget discussion involves a detailed discussion and voting on the demands for grants (budgetary allocation to departments/ministries). 32 demands were presented in the budget each year. On average, 29 demands (90% of the total) were guillotined every year, i.e. passed without debate.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all demands were guillotined in 2020.

226 Debates raised under various Rules  

• The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly Rules of Procedure provide MLAs with various mechanisms to raise issues and discussions in the House. These include calling attention motions, half-an-hour discussions, matters of public importance, short duration discussions, and special mentions.
   
• 226 debates were raised in the Assembly under these provisions.  This is 60% of all notices for debates admitted to the House.