₹2,000 basic salary in 2025? You probably earn more money than a Kerala MLA does

Delhi Assembly formed a five-member committee on March 25 to investigate the demands for revising the salaries of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

It was a rare occasion when both parties—the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)—were on the same page regarding the salary-hike demand for legislators raised during a discussion in the House.

The formation of the panel comes on the heels of the Centre notifying a 24 per cent hike in the salaries of Members of Parliament (MPs) with effect from April 1, 2023, based on the Cost Inflation Index. The two back-to-back developments have reignited the debate over lawmakers’ entitlements.

The MLAs receive salaries and allowances as determined in relevant laws passed in the state legislature. Some states such as Maharashtra have pegged the salary and dearness allowance for MLAs to that of the principal secretary to the state government.

Other than salaries, MLAs also receive several allowances, such as: (i) daily allowances for attending sessions of the Assembly and committee meetings, (ii) conveyance allowance for vehicles, and (iii) telephone and electricity allowances.

Telangana, Maharashtra MLAs highest paid

With ₹2.5 lakh salary a month, Telangana and Maharashtra MLAs are highest paid. Telangana is not in the PRS list, though. With ₹70,000 salary a month, the MLA’s in Kerala are the least paid, according to the PRS list.

Here is a list of some states and the salary and other allowances that the elected MLAs get. The list was prepared by PRS Legislative Research, a non-profit research firm, on state legislatures and parliament.

Delhi: The salaries of the Delhi MLAs were last revised in February 2023, from then ₹54,000 to ₹90,000 per month. The salaries of chief minister, cabinet ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, chief whip and Leader of Opposition were raised from ₹72,000 to ₹1.7 lakh.

Breaking the overall salary into components, an MLA of Delhi gets ₹30,000 as basic salary, ₹25,000 as constituency allowance each month, ₹15,000 as secretarial allowance, ₹10,000 each as conveyance allowance and telephone facilities. Apart from ₹90,000 per month, the MLAs also get ₹1,500 as daily allowance in Delhi.

Gujarat: An MLA in Gujarat gets a basic salary of ₹78,800, a personal assistance allowance of ₹20,000, a telephone charges of ₹7,000, postal and stationary expenses of ₹5,000 per month. Apart from this ₹1,10,800 per month overall salary, a Gujarat MLA also gets a daily allowance of ₹1,000 a Dearness Allowance at the same rate as paid to state government employees

Maharashtra: The basic salary of a MLA in Maharashtra is ₹1,82,200. The elected representative also gets a dearness allowance of ₹51,016, telephone allowances of ₹8,000, stationery and postage allowance of ₹10,000 and computer operator allowance of ₹10,000. This comes to around ₹2,52 lakh a month. The MLA also gets a daily allowance of ₹ 2,000 in Maharashtra.

Kerala: With ₹70,000 a month, Kerala MLAs are least paid, as per the PRS report. An MLA in Kerala is paid ₹2,000 fixed allowance, ₹25,000 constituency allowance, ₹20,000 as minimum monthly travel allowance, ₹11,000 as telephone allowance, ₹4,000 as information allowance and ₹8,000 as sumptuary allowance each month. The MLAs also get a daily allowance of ₹1,000 for inside state and ₹1,200 for outside state.