DNA: Mumbai: Wednesday, August 13, 2014.
The MLA
report card for 2014 released by Praja Foundation has BJP MLA from Charkop,
Yogesh Sagar leading the rankings with Amin Patel (Congress- Mumbadevi) and
Madhukar Chavan (Congress-Byculla) as runners up.
The trio has
retained their ratings from the previous years, with Sagar at number one for
the third time in a row. Mumbai accounts for 36 of the Maharashtra's 288 MLAs
and the report card, which is the fourth in the series and the last for the
tenure of the present assembly, has considered the performance of 32 MLAs
barring four ministers (Nasim Khan, Suresh Shetty, Varsha Gaikwad and Sachin
Ahir). BJP's Prakash Mehta (Ghatkopar East) sits at the bottom of the table.
Evaluation
criteria:
The MLAs have
been evaluated on various parameters namely: number and quality of questions
asked in the assembly, attendance during assembly sessions, criminal record,
education qualification, corruption perception, perceived accountability for
the people and perceived performance. Negative marking was done for new
criminal cases after the 2009 elections and pending charge sheets. Nearly half
of city's legislators face criminal cases. New FIRs and chargesheets were filed
against 10 MLAs, three of whom had no cases registered against them in the 2009
affidavits.
More
accessible as polls near:
Not
surprisingly, the perceived accessibility of these elected representatives for
the common man decreased in 2012 and 2013 as compared in 2011 but shot up in
2014, the year in which elections are due in the state. "This shows the
trend of how elected representatives behave towards the common man and the aam
aadmi," said Nitai Mehta, founder trustee, Praja. "There is a growing
frustration building up among citizens due to decline of governance,"
added Mehta, noting that "people in the lower socio-economic strata are
more clued in to their elected representatives (as against those from the upper
strata)."
Party-wise,
NCP on top:
The
party-wise average score, which signifies their overall performance, has
declined at the end of the MLAs term though the ruling NCP fares better than
their counterparts from other parties. The average score for the five BJP
legislators was 55.52 and that for the Congress, whose 14 MLAs were considered,
is at a higher 60.81. The averages scores for the MNS (6) is 60.41, while that
for the NCP (2), Samajwadi Party (1) and Shiv Sena (4) is 63.11, 55.23 and
62.57. The overall score is 61.44.
Survey
methodology:
The
quantifiable data in the appraisal was collected through RTI applications,
while Hansa Research was commissioned for a survey of over 22,580 people from
Mumbai, with an average of 100 respondents in each municipal ward being
covered. This report card also covers the working and performance of the MLAs
during the three legislature sessions last year and utilisation of local area
development fund between December 2009 and March 2014.
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