State assemblies met for 24 days on average in 2025; Karnataka passed most number of bills: Report

New Delhi: Assemblies across the country met for 24 days on average in 2025 with Odisha topping the list with 43 days and Karnataka becoming the state that passed the maximum number of 84 Bills during its 34 sittings, according to a study by PRS Legislative Research.

Some states like Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Meghalaya appeared to have called short sessions to meet the Constitutional requirement that the gap between two sittings should not be more than six months, the ‘Annual Review of State Laws 2025’ released on Sunday said.

Odisha, the topper in holding maximum sittings last year, was followed by Tamil Nadu 39, Maharashtra 38, Himachal Pradesh 35 and Karnataka 34. Nagaland had the least number of sittings at seven followed by Uttarakhand at ten.

Six states, including Karnataka, had set targets for sittings but only Himachal had met its target of 35. Karnataka had a target of 60 sittings a year, while UP, which had 60 sittings target, met for just 18 days.

The Constitution mandates that no more than six months pass between two sittings of a State Assembly or Parliament. In several cases, the study said, this was achieved with states meeting just enough to meet this requirement.

“For example, Assam convened a one-day session in June, between the March and November sessions. Gujarat, after adjourning in March, met for three days in September. In Rajasthan, the gap between two sessions was five months and eight days, while in Meghalaya, the interval was five months and 26 days,” it said.

Interestingly, the study showed, in some states such as West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Punjab, the sessions lasted a long period. “The West Bengal session which started in 2023, continued into 2026. As sessions were not prorogued, this meant that the Speaker could call for a sitting without requiring summons by the Governor,” it said.

State Assemblies passed 645 Bills in 2025, an increase from around 500 Bills passed in 2024, and Karnataka topped the list passing 84 Bills in 34 sittings while Assam passed 60 Bills in 21 sitting days.

When it comes to referring Bills to committees, Kerala topped the list with 96% (25 of 27) while Karnataka had sent just 2% of its 84 Bills to committees.

Seven Assemblies, namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Puducherry and Punjab, passed all Bills either on the day of introduction or the very next day. States that passed a higher number of Bills often passed many of them in a single sitting.

Karnataka passed 17 Bills in one sitting and 12 in another, while Assam passed 14 Bills in a single sitting.

On average, state assemblies met for 133 hours with Maharashtra topping the list with nine hours per sitting. Karnataka sat for seven hours per sitting.

While some states like Maharashtra, Telangana and Goa exceeded the prescribed sitting hours, others like Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, and Punjab fell short, it said.