State Assemblies meet 30 days a year: PRS

PRS Legislative Research, in its Annual Review of State Laws 2024, revealed that State Assemblies across India continue to meet for less than 30 days on average. In 2024, Assemblies sat for an average of 20 days, totalling approximately 100 hours of proceedings. The report noted that four states held sessions for fewer than 50 hours, while six states — including Kerala, Odisha, Maharashtra and Rajasthan — met for over 150 hours.

According to the report, Odisha recorded the highest number of sitting days at 42, followed by Kerala with 38 days and West Bengal with 36 days. In Manipur, where President’s Rule was imposed in February 2025, the Assembly met for 14 days.

Other States with notably short sessions include Nagaland (six days), Sikkim (eight days) and Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand, which each met for just 10 days. Among larger states, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh convened for only 16 days each. The Constitution mandates that state legislatures meet at least once every six months.

The report said 11 States met this requirement through short sessions that lasted for one or two days. Seven States had Assembly elections in 2024. Of these, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha met for higher number of days compared to 2023. On the other hand, Jharkhand and Maharashtra had lesser sitting days compared to 2023.

“From 28 days in 2017, the average number of sitting days of Assemblies came down to 16 during the pandemic affected 2020. Since then, it has remained close to 20 days a year. Some states have set a target for minimum number of annual sitting days either through legislation or through Rules of Procedure. But none of them met these targets in any year between 2017 and 2024,” it said. Some states which have a relatively higher number of average annual sitting days include: (i) Kerala (44 days a year on average), (ii) Odisha (40), (iii) Karnataka (34) and (iv) West Bengal (34). The average duration of a sitting was five hours, with wide variation across states. While sittings in Goa and Rajasthan lasted for an average of seven hours, in Bihar, Jharkhand and Punjab average duration of sittings was about three hours. When Assemblies meet for few days in a year and for few hours on these days, they have limited time for discussion on laws and government finances.

“The Constitution mandates legislatures to meet at least once in six months. Eleven states met this requirement through short sessions that lasted for one or two days,” according to the report. “When Assemblies meet for a few days in a year and for a few hours on these days, they have limited time for discussion on laws and government finances,” the PRS said in the report. According to PRS, an average, states passed 17 Bills in 2024. Of the more than 500 Bills passed by all states, Karnataka passed the highest number of Bills (49), followed by Tamil Nadu (45), Himachal Pradesh (32) and Maharashtra (32). While Delhi passed only one Bill, Rajasthan passed two Bills. Odisha and Puducherry passed three Bills each.

“In 2024, 51 per cent of all the Bills passed, were passed on the day they were introduced in the Assembly or the very next day (Figure 6). In 2023, 44 per cent of Bills had been passed within a day of introduction. Eight states — Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Puducherry, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal — passed all Bills on the day they were introduced, or the next day. Jharkhand, Mizoram, Puducherry and Punjab had also passed all Bills within a day in 2023 and 2022. In 16 states, all Bills were passed within five days of introduction. Since states have low sitting days, legislative activity tends to get concentrated in a few days. For example, of the 32 Bills passed by Himachal Pradesh, 17 were introduced on September 5, 2024 and passed the next day,” according to a think tank.

Amid a debate over the absence of a deputy speaker in the Lok Sabha, data compiled by a think tank shows eight state assemblies not having anyone in the position, with Jharkhand not electing one for more than 20 years.

Article 178 of the Constitution requires state assemblies to choose two members as speaker and deputy speaker as soon as possible, according to the report. Assemblies of eight states and Union territories did not have a deputy speaker as of April 2025, the think tank said in the report.

The list includes Jharkhand, which has not elected a deputy speaker for more than 20 years.

While the previous Uttar Pradesh Assembly elected a deputy speaker in its last session, the current assembly, which is three years into its term, has not yet elected one.

“The Constitution assigns some key functions to the deputy speaker. He officiates as the speaker in case of a vacancy (due to death or resignation of the speaker). He also receives notice of no-confidence motion against the speaker and presides over the discussion on that motion,” according to the report. Other state assemblies that do not have a deputy speaker are Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttarakhand.

The Lok Sabha has not had a deputy speaker since June 2019. According to the report, state assemblies met for an average of 20 days in 2024.

PRS said, in 2024, 28 states discussed budgets for seven days on average. Kerala and Goa spent 18 days on the entire budget discussion, followed by Odisha (16), Gujarat (14) and Rajasthan (13). Six states, including Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Telangana discussed and passed their budgets in two days.