- As you are aware, the three important pillars of the Constitution to run a democratic form of governance are the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. The first two pillars are represented by the elected members chosen as part of the democratic process by the people of the republic. The judiciary is mandated to uphold the constitutionality of the laws, bills, statutes, and the ilk passed by the legislature after undertaking healthy debates, discussions, and brainstorming sessions. As can be seen, it becomes extremely important for the legislature to conduct business professionally and also ensure the laws so promulgated are well within the defined boundaries in the Constitution.
PC: NEERAJ MISHRA
- Unfortunately, reports about the legislature sittings not only come as a rude surprise but also question how inadequately our elected representatives conduct business to take the country along the path of growth. Going by the newspaper reports, the state legislative assemblies averaged just 30 sittings a year over the past decade. Anecdotally familiar, this devaluation of legislative democracy is still shocking when framed by data. Now, we are also quite exposed to how political parties create din over issues irrespective of them being in the treasury benches or the opposition benches.
- Further, all the more so because many states where electoral politics is high tempered manage considerably fewer sittings than the already appalling national average. Looking at some of the state’s assembly sittings will be shocking, to say the least. Note that states like Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi assemblies meet less than 20 days a year. Other states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and mighty-important UP meet for less than 25 days. We all know how the ensuing elections to Punjab and UP are witnessing a fierce poll battle. Sadly, whichever party forms the government, and the opposition will equally ignore assembly duties post-poll.
PC: India TV News Desk
- Most worryingly, Lok Sabha is not an exemplar of legislative seriousness either as its yearly average is just 63 sittings. Much poorer than national chambers of democracies like the US, UK, Japan, Canada, and Germany function more than 100 days on an average. Needless to mention, this is simply unconscionable as few sitting MLAs, and MPs mean legislators are not spending enough time either debating laws or debating governance issues. On top of it, poorly drafted laws also lead to controversies over interpretation and a subsequent raft of litigations. This is a direct result of legislators not doing their job on legislation.
- Another fallout is the executive feeling increasingly unconstrained by the legislature. No wonder, higher courts are the institutions that act as the only effective checks on executive overreach. As such, there must be a rule in place mandating a minimum of 100 sittings a year, and a majority of MLAs or MPs from every party in a House present in those sittings. Senior leaders from all parties should come together to address this issue rather than indulge in disgusting political theatrics. If the legislatures continue to remain as unimportant in governance as they are now, the decline in the quality of democracy, which is different from just winning elections, may become irreversible. Hopefully, political leaders will put aside their differences to join hands in addressing the worrying issue forthwith.
