City MLAs poor performers in assembly: study

Majority of city MLAs continue to perform poorly in the state legislature, suggests a study conducted by Praja Foundation, a non-profit organisation.

Majority of city MLAs continue to perform poorly in the state legislature, suggests a study conducted by Praja Foundation, a non-profit organisation.

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The study used data of proceedings in the Vidhan Sabha, data from city and suburban collectors’ offices, Mumbai police and State Election Commission across three assembly sessions from November 2010 to March 2012. The data was released for 32 out of 36 MLAs of Mumbai, leaving out the four MLAs who are also ministers.

The study revealed that the overall performance of 59% of Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from Mumbai dipped, in comparison with that between November 2009 and March 2011. Ten of the 32 elected MLAs asked less than hundred questions pertaining to social, physical, economic and policy-making infrastructure in their regions during the sessions. While Congress MLA Chandrakant Handore asked only eight questions, MNS MLA Bala Nandgaonkar asked 1,165 questions of the total 11,049 questions posed during the three sessions.

“The performances have dipped on account of the quality of questions asked in the assembly and the criminal cases that have been filed against them during this period,” said Milind Mhaske, project director, Praja Foundation.

The parameters followed for the 100-point marking system included educational qualifications, filing of income tax returns, criminal record, number of sessions attended, number of questions asked, importance of questions asked, utilisation of the total local area development funds between November 2010 and March 2012 and perceived accessibility and level of corruption by voters in the constituency.