MLA pay hikes outpace MPs'; Telangana, Karnataka lead the pack

The government’s decision to notify a 24 per cent salary hike for MPs has reignited the debate on lawmaker entitlements. However, this increase is lower than the last salary revision rate for MLAs in any state.

An analysis by The Tribune of the last salary revision done by state Assemblies shows that MLA salary hikes have ranged from 120 per cent in Telangana (2016) and 100 per cent in Karnataka (March 2025), Manipur (2020) and Tamil Nadu (2018) to 30 per cent in Madhya Pradesh (2016), 50 per cent in Jharkhand (2024), 60 per cent in Himachal Pradesh (2019), 64 per cent in Gujarat (2018), 66 per cent in Delhi (2023) and 46 per cent in Rajasthan (2019).

All these raises across states, effected through Bills piloted by governments of the day, have received pan-party support, otherwise a rarity.

According to the latest data on state Assembly websites, the highest monthly salary of Rs 2.75 lakh is currently earned by MLAs of the Telangana Assembly. It was under the K Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS government that the salary of MLAs in the state was hiked from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 2.75 lakh, inclusive of all allowances.

The Congress-led Karnataka government on March 21, 2025, brought a Bill to double the salary of MLAs from Rs 40,000 to Rs 80,000 and CM’s salary from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh a month.

Earlier as CM of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2016 brought a Bill for raising the salary of MLAs from Rs 71,000 to Rs 1.1 lakh a month and CM’s salary from Rs 1.43 lakh to Rs 1.85 lakh monthly.

Former Haryana CM ML Khattar had similarly piloted a Bill in 2016, raising the salary of MLAs from Rs 70,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh.

In Delhi, former CM Arvind Kejriwal led a Bill that gave 66 per cent raise in salaries to MLAs and 136 per cent to the CM.

Himachal CM Jairam Thakur also brought a Bill in 2019, raising the salary of MLAs by 60 per cent.

Among states where approximate monthly salaries of MLAs are higher than those drawn by MPs are Andhra Pradesh (Rs 1.25 lakh), Bihar (Rs 1.65 lakh), Chhattisgarh (Rs 1.6 lakh), Haryana (Rs 1.25 lakh), Himachal Pradesh (Rs 2 lakh), Maharashtra (Rs 2.3 lakh), Manipur (Rs 2.05 lakh), Mizoram (Rs 1.5 lakh) and UP (Rs 1.25 lakh).

Nationally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in 2018 instructed ministers that the ad hoc salary revision system needed to end.

Accordingly, then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley piloted the Finance Act of 2018, which amended the Salaries, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act of 1954 to link MPs’ salaries to inflation, specifically using the Cost Inflation Index (CII) published under the Income Tax Act of 1961.

Before this amendment, salary revisions were conducted on an ad hoc basis and required parliamentary approval each time.

“State Assemblies currently have the power to recommend and approve salary hikes for presiding officers, CMs, ministers, MLAs and Leaders of Opposition. Nationally, the old ad hoc practice of MPs approving their own salary hikes ended in 2018, when an automatic revision linked to the cost inflation index was introduced,” says Chakshu Roy of PRS Legislative Research.

Other experts of the law believe states should follow the Centre’s example in ending the arbitrariness surrounding salary hikes.