Functioning of the 14th Gujarat Legislative Assembly

Note: (i) FS – First Session, BS – Budget Session, MS – Monsoon Session, WS – Winter Session; (ii) Data apart from sitting days is not available for MS ‘22.

• The 14^th Gujarat Legislative Assembly sat for 11 sessions in all. It functioned for 123 days in total, with an average of 12 sitting days per session. All non-budget sessions lasted for five days or less. Budget sessions had an average of 18 sitting days. (The first session of 2019 has been counted as a budget session for calculations, as interim budget was presented during this session).
   
• On average, this Assembly sat for two sessions and 25 sitting days a year. Between 2000 and 2010, the average sitting days for the Gujarat Assembly was 31 a year.
     
• Between 2016 and 2021, state legislative assemblies in India sat for an average of 25 days a year. The average for the Gujarat Assembly during this time was 26 days a year.
   
• The longest sitting day was on July 26, 2019, where the Assembly sat for more than 16 hours. Four Bills were introduced and passed on that day, with more members participating in the Bill debates than average.
   
• The average attendance of MLAs for all sessions combined was 85%.  Shorter sessions had greater attendance.

15% of admitted questions were answered

• The Assembly spent 18% of its total functioning time on questions.
   
• 57,206 notices of questions were sent in. Of these, 40,837 (71%) were admitted. These include 32,349 starred and 8,474 unstarred questions.
   
• 15% of admitted questions were answered in the Assembly (2% of starred and 65% of unstarred questions).

• 92 Bills (excluding Appropriation bills) were introduced in this Assembly. All Bills except one (the Gujarat Cattle Control (Keeping and Moving) in Urban Areas Bill, 2019) were passed on the same day as their introduction. The Cattle Control Bill was passed on the day following its introduction. However, this Bill was later withdrawn, after the Governor had sent it back for reconsideration. No Bills were sent to committees for detailed scrutiny.
   
• On average, each Bill was discussed for 1.4 hours.

• 21 Bills related to education were passed, accounting for 20% of all Bills. Other subjects on which Bills were passed include land (13%) and taxation (11%). Bills passed during this term of the Assembly include the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and the ‘Kaushalya’ Skill University, Bill, 2021.
   
• Of the Bills passed, 84 have received assent. 70% of Bills received assent within a month after passing.
   
• 13 Bills received assent more than two months after passing (including those reserved for the consideration of the President). These include the Criminal Law (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2018, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020.

• 21 ordinances were promulgated during the term of this Assembly. Of these, 12 were promulgated in 2020 (which was the year COVID-19 was declared a pandemic). These were related to labour laws, law and order, and education.
   
• 11 out of the 12 ordinances were replaced by legislation in the monsoon session of 2020. One was replaced in the budget session of 2021.

Members participated in 24 debates on average

Note: The above data includes participation by ministers.

• On average, a member participated in 24 debates over the course of the Assembly. This average drops to 18 for female members.
   
• Most members participated in less than 20 debates over five years. Only 16 members participated in 50 or more debates.