Less than 5 per cent of bills passed in Karnataka Assembly sent for scrutiny

BENGALURU:  Amid a flood of freebie promises by various political parties, Karnataka will be going to polls in less than 9 days. A quick look at the 15th Legislative Assembly working report showed that the BJP government passed several bills with little to no discussion during its tenure. 

As per the PRS Legislative Research report, a total of 176 bills were introduced from 2018-23. Of them, 164 were passed by both the Houses. Though there were 167 sittings with an average of 33 sittings per year, the Houses passed 86 per cent of the bills. Most of the bills were passed in the same session they were introduced, leaving no time for scrutiny or changes.

The report revealed that less than 5 per cent of the bills were sent to committees for scrutiny.  Political analyst and dean at the University of Mysore, Muzaffar Assadi, said that the importance of the institution such as the Legislative Assembly has been reduced. He said, ‘Many bills were passed without any discussion. The ruling party and the opposition should be blamed equally. Nobody is interested in serious debates.”

Some of the key bills passed were the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020, the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2022, and the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill, 2022. The scrutiny of a bill by a committee usually takes a few months. If referred to a parliamentary committee, it takes longer.