Even though State legislatures passing over 600 bills in 2025 is worrisome, it is a slight improvement in terms of bill clearance.
The latest PRS report on ‘Annual Review of State Laws 2025’ reveals a disturbing trend of State assemblies rushing through over 600 bills in 365 days of 2025, displaying lack of severe legislative oversight over issues critical to democracy and government functioning. Instead of threadbare debate and discussions on legislations, many assemblies have turned into rubber stamps, data compiled by the report of May 2026 suggested.
As much as 30 per cent of the bills were passed on the day they were introduced, with seven assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Puducherry and the Punjab passing all legislations either on the day of introduction or the next. States that passed a higher number of bills often did so in a single sitting. Karnataka passed 17 bills in one sitting and 12 in another, while Assam passed 14 bills in a single sitting, flagged the PRS report.
Even though State legislatures passing over 600 bills in 2025 is worrisome, it is a slight improvement in terms of bill clearance. Notably, in 2024, the Assemblies had cleared a total of about 500 bills. Karnataka had passed the highest number of bills at 84 in 34 sitting days, followed by Assam at 60 bills in 21 sitting days.
No. of sessions
The number of legislative sessions held in vidhan sabhas and vidhan parishads have also seen a sharp decline. State assemblies met for an average of just 24 days during all of 2025, pointed out the report.
It, however, marked a marginal increase from 21 days in 2024, and 23 days in 2023. Of the average 24 days of assemblies conducting businesses, in Nagaland, it met only for seven days. This stood at 43 days for Odisha. Some States have set minimum targets for annual sitting days, either through legislation or the rules governing their procedures. Barring Himachal Pradesh, no State has met its prescribed target.
The Constitution requires that no more than passage of six months between two sittings of a State assembly. The report also stated that all States met this requirement in 2025. In several cases, this was achieved with States meeting the bare minimum.
For example, Assam convened a one-day session in June, between March and November sessions. Gujarat, after adjourning in March, met for three days in September. In Rajasthan, the gap between two sessions was five months and eight days, while in Meghalaya, the interval was five months and 26 days. Most sittings occur in the first quarter of the year, when States meet to discuss and pass their budget.
Published on May 31, 2026
