With elections round the corner, MLAs representing the city are trying their best to woo voters. However, a joint study conducted by some non-government organisations (NGOs) reveals that four city MLAs have not asked even a single question in the Legislative Assembly in the past five years.
Daksh India, in association with Child Rights Trust, obtained records from the Assembly and found that out of 27 MLAs representing the city, four have never asked a single question in the House during their entire term.
Seven MLAS have asked 10 or less questions. Eight have asked more than 10 questions, but less than a 100.
“Only three MLAs asked more than 100 questions,” the study has revealed.
Harish of Daksh India told Express, “We jointly studied the questions asked by city MLAs during Assembly sessions and found that of the 27 MLAs, four did not ask any question during Question Hour. They are M Srinivas (Rajarajeshwarinagar), Prasanna Kumar (Pulakeshinagar), Satish Reddy (Bommanahalli) and Raghu (C V Raman Nagar). “We obtained the data from the Assembly where every question asked by MLAs has been recorded during Question Hour. The MLAs, who have not asked any questions might have argued for other issues, but not a single question has been recorded as on December 2012,” he said.
However, the report also revealed that three MLAs—N L Narendra Babu (Mahalakshmi Layout), Ramalinga Reddy (BTM Layout) and Harris (Shanthinagar)—have asked more than 100 questions in the past five years during the Assembly sessions, Harish said.
When contacted, M Srinivas said that henceforth, he would ask questions in the Question Hour.
He said he had given the questions in writing in earlier sessions but they were not discussed at the Assembly at all.
He maintained that he had spoken about many issues related to his constituency.
Daksh India, along with Namma Bengaluru Foundation, which conducted a survey involving 1,500 respondents across the city, found that 41 per cent of them believed that caste is most important, while 18.7 per cent believed party is more important and only 14.5 per cent felt candidate is more important.
Dr Sudhakar Varanasi, CEO of Namma Benguluru Foundation, said, “So far people were choosing MLAs if the candidate is from their community or if the candidate belongs to their favourite political party. We urge people to elect candidates who can address issues,” he said.