New Delhi : Less than half of the MPs attended over 90 per cent of Parliament’s budget session, a report has revealed ahead of the crucial monsoon session during which the Centre seeks to bring in a bill that would require a constitutional amendment.
The analysis of attendance records by NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative pointed out that MPs from smaller parties clocked higher attendance than their counterparts from states that went to polls during the budget session. Under parliamentary rules, ministers and the leaders of the Opposition do not sign the attendance register. The budget session lasted for 31 days.
In the Lok Sabha, less than half, or 45.76 per cent, of the 483 MPs had attended between 90 and 100 per cent of the sittings or signed the attendance register for those many days during the budget session, the report stated.
“If attendance of 75 per cent of the sittings is taken as the minimum threshold, then 309 MPs reached it, which is 63.98 per cent… 69 MPs are shown as having signed the attendance register for less than 50 per cent of the sittings (between 0 and 15 days). This amounts to 14.29 per cent,” it added. The NGO parsed data to conclude that 101 MPs signed the attendance register for all 31 sittings of the budget session.
MPs from Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala — where elections were held — attended fewer than 20 per cent of the sittings on average. “Both MPs from the RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) and the lone MP from the RLP (Rashtriya Loktantrik Party) had a 100 per cent attendance record. CPIML (Liberation) stood second with two of its MPs attending 30 out of the 31 sittings, as did the lone MP from the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM),” the report said.
The BJP, the single-largest party in the Lok Sabha with 191 members, averaged only 26.46 sittings per MP, the report added. “The INC — the single largest party in the Opposition in the Lok Sabha — averaged only 23.13 sittings with 97 MPs,” it said.
In the Rajya Sabha, 119 MPs, or 46.67 per cent of the House’s total strength, attended between 90 and 100 per cent of the sittings or at least signed the attendance register during the budget session.
“If attending at least 75 per cent of the sittings is taken as the minimum threshold, then 159 MPs reached it, which is 62.35 per cent,” the report said, adding that around 23.14 per cent of the MPs had a 100 per cent attendance record.
It said more than 61 per cent of the MPs with 100 per cent attendance belonged to the BJP (36 MPs), five were from the Congress, three from the BJD, two each from the AITC, DMK, RJD and the SP.
“The analysis and the findings presented above do not indicate how many hours each MP spent on the floor of the House in each sitting. Often, when routine and non-controversial business is transacted in either House, viewers get to see rows upon rows of empty benches during its live telecast,” the report concluded.
