Though the ruling Samajwadi Party’s MLAs topped the attendance charts in the last five years of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, it was the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs who raised more questions than their counterparts from other parties.
Data from PRS Legislative research, an independent parliamentary research think tank, shows that SP MLAs had a 78% average attendance rate. It also shows that BJP MLAs, on an average, asked 94 questions.
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The SP has 240 MLAs in the Assembly, while the BJP has 53.
The Bahujan Samaj Party was third with regard to asking questions, with the second place going to the Congress. Mukesh Srivastava of the Congress, an MLA from Payagpur with a 52% attendance rate, asked 581 questions to top the list of individual members. In second place was Manish Asiza from Firozabad with an 86% attendance rate and 555 questions. Suresh Kumar Khanna, representing Shahjahanpur, had a 92% attendance rate and asked 541 questions. Both Mr. Asiza and Mr. Khanna are from the BJP.
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The average comes to 32 questions for each MLA.
Over 200 of the 430 MLAs did not ask any questions. The Congress’ Gayadeen Anuragi from Rath, Kazim Ali Khan from Suar, Radhey Shyam from Jagdishpur, Kartar Singh Badana of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, from Khatauli, Krishna Kumar Ojha of the BSP from Mahasi, the SP’s Laxmikant from Mehndawal, Uday Raj from Purwa and Mahesh Narayan Singh from Handia, and Sushil Singh, an independent MLA from Sakaldiha, each asked only one question.
MLAs with college degrees asked 70% more questions than others, and on an average male MLAs asked three times as many questions as female MLAs.
In the UP Assembly, whose five-year term is coming to an end shortly, there are 240 members from SP, 80 from BSP, 53 from BJP, and 30 from Congress. Also, there are nine RLD members, seven Independents, four from the Peace Party, two each from Apna Dal and Quami Ekta Dal, and one each from the Trinamool Congress, the Ittehad-e-Millat Council and the Nationalist Congress Party.
Of these, 62% are between the ages of 45 and 65. Just seven are below 35 years. Data also shows that, among the legislators, 130 have finished their post-graduate degrees, and 112 are graduates. About 13% of the MLAs have finished their secondary school education.
The Question Hour in a state’s Assembly and at the Parliament is an important legislative right where Members can ask questions of the government, Ministers and departments.