Citizens' report card examines performance of Bengaluru MPs and MLAs
P.C. Mohan, Member of Parliament (MP) representing Bengaluru Central, has the highest attendance of 98.51% when it comes to parliamentary sessions among the three MPs of the city, while Bengaluru South MP Tejaswi Surya's attendance is just 77.61%, falling below the national average of 87%, according to Citizens' Report Cards of Bengaluru's Elected Representatives in the current term released by CIVIC Bangalore (a voluntary citizen's initiative) on Saturday.
The report card captured key performance metrics for individual elected representatives, which include attendance, number of questions raised, number of committees participated in, number of Bills introduced (Private/Government), and number of debates participated in(only for MPs). It also analysed LAD Fund utilisation numbers for MPs and MLAs and the total criminal cases declared in the last election and net worth growth for repeat MLAs and MPs during their last term.
Despite his low attendance, Mr. Surya asked 84 questions in the Parliament and took part in 13 debates, while Mr. Mohan participated only in one debate, where he put a request for e-buses under the PM e-Bus Sewa Scheme for Bengaluru.
C.N. Manjunath, Bengaluru Rural MP, had an attendance of 94%, asked six questions, and took part in nine debates. Mr. Manjunath also led in terms of Local Area Development Fund (LAD) allocation (₹6.3 crore), including the previous and current year's available funds. Mr. Mohan has utilised only ₹47 lakh out of ₹5 crore made available in the current term, as per the data.
Shobha Karandlaje, Bengaluru North MP, has utilised 97.6% of LAD funds.
Among the MLAs, N. Shreenivasaiah of Nelamangala constituency attended 100% Assembly sessions, with only 29% MLAs having greater than 90% attendance, while 3 MLAs had less than 70% attendance. With only 53.62%, Priya Krishna, MLA for Govindraj Nagar, held the last spot.
The report also noted that the Legislative Assembly had only 69 sittings in 2 years. N.A. Haris, MLA for Shanthinagar, asked 230 unstarred questions (the highest among MLAs), while S. Muniraju from Dasarahalli asked the highest number of starred questions (7).
The report further mentioned that only four MLAs have fully utilised the ₹4 crore made available under the Karnataka Legislature Local Area Development (KLLAD) Fund, while almost 1/4th (22%) have allocated more than 90%. 'Overall, ₹40.79 crore of KLLAD Funds currently lie unspent, while potentially ₹4.84 crore may be stuck/forefeited. S. Manjula of Mahadevpura has not allocated any of her ₹4 crore KLLAD funds,' the report said.
The report card was developed by citizen volunteers and student interns at CIVIC Bangalore over a period of six months, using publicly available data sources such as the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly websites, LAD scheme dashboards, Right to Information filings and websites of non-governmental organizations such as PRS India and myneta.info, which track legislators nationally.
Speaking at the release of the report, Prakash Belwadi, actor and civic activist, accused MLAs and MPs of prioritising business growth over welfare, adding that citizen pressure is the only check on their apathy.
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