AGARTALA: The Tripura assembly has registered the lowest average number of sittings (16 days) in a year for the last five years followed by Uttarakhand (19) and Punjab (19), Uttar Pradesh (22) and Himachal Pradesh (26). Releasing the information on functioning of Tripura assembly (2008-12), National Coordinator of National Election Watch (NEW), Anil Bairwal, said Gujarat with 31 days has the maximum number of sittings per year in the country. He added that the analysis revealed that only 31 bills were passed in the house while the attendance of Congress MLAs was poor.

Attending an open-house discussion with political parties and civil society organizations of Tripura and Mizoram organized by National Election Watch (NEW), CPM state secretary Bijan Dhar said the proposed auditing of accounts by CAG-appointed auditors might attract unnecessary complications and led to favoritism and bureaucratic intervention. He, however, proposed monitoring of accounts of the parties through a system of checking and cross-checking on the basis of Income Tax returns besides amending concerned sections of the IT Act with the provision of more stringent punishment for concealing or providing wrong information.