Elections to the 16th Karnataka legislative assembly will be held on May 10, 2023. This document analyses the functioning of the 15th Karnataka legislative assembly, which held sessions between May 2018 and February 2023.
The assembly met for an average of 33 days a year; sitting days have declined over time
The 15th assembly had 167 sitting days across 15 sessions. The average number of sittings in a year was 33.
The Karnataka Conduct of Government Business in the State Legislature Act, 2005 mandates that the legislature meets for at least 60 days in a year, over four sessions. The 15th assembly did not meet this target in any year of its entire five-year term. The Karnataka assembly has not met for more than 60 days in any year since 2002.
The Conduct of Government Business Act also specifies the minimum length of each session. Budget sessions must be held for at least 20 days. Of the six budget sittings in this term, the assembly met this target on three occasions, between 2020 and 2022. The sixth budget session was to pass an interim budget.
As per the Act, Monsoon Sessions must last at least 15 days. In the 15th assembly, no Monsoon Session has had more than 10 sittings. Only two Winter Sessions have met the mandate of a minimum of 10 sitting days.
Over the years, sitting days have decreased in both Houses of the Karnataka legislature (the legislature is bicameral, i.e., it has a legislative assembly and a legislative council).
As per the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, each sitting should last for 6.5 hours. 74% of sittings in this term lasted less than 6.5 hours.
The longest sittings of this assembly were held on July 23, 2019, and September 26, 2020, each lasting about 10 hours. On July 23, 2019, a motion of confidence in the government was put to vote. The government lost the confidence of the house. On September 26, 2020, a motion of no confidence against the government was discussed, and defeated.
176 Bills were introduced during the tenure of the 15th assembly, and 164 (excluding Finance and Appropriation Bills) were passed by the legislature (both the assembly and the xouncil). 86% of Bills were passed by both Houses in the same session they were introduced.
Key Bills passed include the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020, the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2022, and the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill, 2022.
The legislative assembly passed 32% of Bills on the same day or the day after introduction. These include the Karnataka Lokayukta (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Bill, 2020, and the Karnataka Religious Structures (Protection) Bill, 2021.
Less than 5% of Bills were sent to committees for detailed scrutiny. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Bill, 2020 was examined by a Joint Select Committee comprising of members from both the assembly and the council.
Nine members have 100% attendance (till the end of the 12th session).
The average attendance of MLAs in a session was 83%. Attendance was 100% only for the first two sittings of the 15th assembly, when the members took oath. Thereafter, it has ranged roughly between 70% and 90%. Attendance was relatively lower during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the Monsoon Session of 2020 (75%) and Winter Sessions of 2020 (73%) and 2021 (74%).
