16 MLAs, Including Cong’s Randeep Singh Surjewala, Asked no Question in Haryana Assembly: ADR Report

New Delhi: As Haryana goes to polls on October 21, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Haryana Election Watch (HEW) have showcased the performance of MLAs of the 13th Legislative Assembly.

Though, of 174 bills, 170 were passed, which is an impressive 98 per cent, it also highlights the brute majority of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the house, and a scattered opposition.

While overall, there is not many mismatches between the number of sittings of the house planned and held, there are MLAs who did not fare well.

Of 91 legislators analysed by the poll watchdogs, only 75 have asked questions. If asking questions is the parameter of performance, Congress MLA from Tosham constituency Kiran Choudhry has fared on top with 225 starred questions.

She is closely followed by Indian National Lok Dal's Naina Singh Chautala from the Dabwali constituency. In fact in the top ten performer, in terms of asking questions, there's only one MLA from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - Prem Lata.

But there are 16 MLAs who haven't bothered to ask even a single question, be it about the state or raising issues pertaining to their respective constituencies.

Congress' national face Randeep Singh Surjewala and BJP spokesperson Captain Abhimanyu are among them.

"I don't know why they are not keen to ask questions... In fact, bills are passed without much discussions. It's not a happy state (of affairs)," said Maj. Gen. Anil Verma (retd.), who heads the ADR.

But what's surprising is information on Haryana MLAs' attendance were refused when sought by the poll watchdog. Verma laments: "I don't know what's so secret about that?"