Kerala Assembly sat fewer days than planned during LDF's second term, new study finds

Thiruvananthapuram: The 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly, which functioned during the second consecutive term of the CPI(M)-led LDF government from 2021 to 2026, met for 204 sitting days across 16 sessions between May 2021 and February 2026, averaging 41 sitting days a year, according to a new evaluation report.

The report, Democracy in Practice: An Evaluation of the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly (2021-26), was jointly prepared by former Government Chief Whip Dr N Jayaraj and his private secretary Dr Relfi Paul for Thiruvananthapuram-based NGO "Budget and Legislative Research (BLR)".

It found that the Assembly recorded 28 fewer sitting days than the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly, which met for 232 days across 22 sessions. The decline came despite the previous Assembly maintaining a higher number of sittings even during the COVID-19 period.

The study showed that total working hours fell from 1,265 hours in the 14th Assembly to about 1,192 hours during the 2021-26 term, a reduction of nearly 73 hours. However, the average daily sitting time increased to around 5.5 hours from 5.3 hours, indicating that longer sittings partly compensated for fewer meeting days.

The report noted that the original calendar for the 15th Assembly envisaged around 300 sitting days over its five-year term, or about 60 days annually. However, only 204 sitting days were held, leaving a shortfall of 96 days.

According to the report, the gap resulted from decisions of the Business Advisory Committee on rescheduling House business and allocating time, the premature conclusion of sessions based on the government's assessment of legislative work, and external political, administrative and unforeseen factors.

"The reduction in sitting days has significant implications," the report said. "Fewer sittings compress legislative business, limiting opportunities for detailed debate, financial scrutiny, and oversight mechanisms such as Question Hour." A comparison with other state legislatures showed that Kerala recorded the highest level of activity among the states examined. The Kerala Assembly met for 204 days, averaging 41 days a year, with daily sittings lasting about 5.5 hours.

The report said West Bengal recorded 166 sitting days, or 33 days a year, but with shorter sittings averaging 2.5 hours daily. Tamil Nadu met for 155 days, around 32 annually, with average sittings of about five hours. Assam registered the lowest activity level, holding only 102 sitting days, or about 20 per year.

It said the comparison demonstrated that legislative performance depended not only on the number of sitting days but also on how effectively time was used for debate and scrutiny.

Despite the reduction in sittings, member attendance remained high. Around 65 per cent of MLAs recorded attendance above 90 per cent, while nearly 87 per cent attended at least 80 per cent of sittings.

The attendance analysis covered 111 MLAs and excluded ministers, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Leader of the Opposition, Chief Whip, members elected through by-elections and those who did not serve throughout all 16 sessions.

The Assembly functioned for a total of 1,192 hours during the term. Legislative business accounted for 22.68 per cent of the time and financial business for 23.45 per cent, meaning 46.13 per cent of the Assembly's working hours were devoted to law-making and financial oversight.

Another 31.40 per cent of the time was spent on accountability and oversight mechanisms, including Question Hour, Adjournment Motions and Calling Attention motions.

The report stated that deliberative and participatory functions accounted for around 17 per cent of the Assembly's time, while procedural and miscellaneous business made up the remaining 6.06 per cent.

It concluded that while the assembly maintained strong member participation and devoted substantial time to legislative and oversight functions during the LDF government's second term, the decline in the number of sittings raised concerns about the depth of debate, scrutiny and accountability in the legislative process.