NGO ranks Mumbai's MLAs

The Times of India: Mumbai: Wednesday, June 27, 2012.

BJP MLA from Charkop, Yogesh Pawar was ranked the best while Congress MLA and former minister from Chembur Chandrakant Handore was ranked last for his performance in the Maharashtra legislature.

The ranking was carried out by Praja Foundation, an NGO working to improve civic governance.

The ratings of the MLAs were based on data, which was collected between November 2010 and March 2012 accessed through RTI on attendance of assembly sessions by the elected representatives, number and type of questions raised by the elected representative, use of discretionary funds, etc., and by interviews with around 14,561 citizens of Mumbai conducted by Hansa Market Research Agency, to investigate the views of citizens on their elected representatives.

Mangesh Sangle of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, who was ranked number one last year lost his position because of a new FIR registered against him. On the other hand, Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh moved from rank no. 29 to rank no. 12 in the current year primarily because he improved his attendance, number of questions asked and the quality of questions asked, said Nitai Mehta of Praja Foundation.