Taking serious note of the trend of thin attendance of MLAs in the Assembly in the last several legislative sessions, Speaker U.T. Khader is considering a proposal to recommend to the government to cut the MLAs’ local area development grants if they fail to meet a minimum of 70 per cent attendance.
“It is the duty of MLAs to attend the legislature session and represent the people of their constituency as well as that of the State. It is not good on their part to abstain from the legislature,” Mr. Khader told The Hindu after the Winter Session of the State legislature that was held recently in Belagavi.
The speaker confirmed that already a round of consultations with the government had been held on the proposal to link the release of local area development grants of MLAs with their legislature attendance.
It may be noted that even in the just concluded session of the legislature, the Assembly witnessed thin attendance of members. In fact, there were days when hardly 60 to 70 MLAs turned up at the session in the 224-member House.
While there are concerns about declining standards in the legislature debates, the absence of members is viewed more seriously, as the presence of members is crucial to improving the legislature debates and finding solutions to various problems gripping the State.
Sources in the legislature secretariat made it clear that the main intention of examining the proposal to link the release of grant of local area development grants to MLAs’ attendance in legislature was not to punish the legislators, but to discourage them from abstaining from the session and also to remind them that it is their primary duty to attend the session.
The MLAs, irrespective of political affiliations, get an annual local area development fund of ₹2 crore that can be used as per their discretion for the development of their constituency. Perhaps considering the importance of these funds, the Speaker may be thinking of linking their release to attendance.
Meanwhile, former Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S. Suresh Kumar underscored the importance of legislators attending the legislature session promptly. “The very nomenclature — legislator — indicates that the main role of the legislators is to legislate. To do that, they need to attend the legislature session,” Mr. Suresh Kumar told The Hindu.
“Of late, we legislators have become elevated corporators as the main focus has been civic amenities and related issues. But though it is not wrong to focus on such issues, we must not forget that we have a duty to legislate,” he observed.
“It is not about merely attending the House. The legislators should actively participate in various debates and effectively represent the people of their constituency and also people of the State,” he said.
Published – December 23, 2025 09:26 pm IST
