People send their representative to Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament and expect that through them their voices will be heard at the temple of democracy. If these elected members of Parliament choose to remain silent during their tenure as MP, then the purpose for their election becomes questionable.
According to reports, 9 out of 543 Lok Sabha MPs did not utter a single word in Parliament.
B.N. Bache Gowda, Anant Kumar Hegde, V Srinivas Prasad, and Ramesh Jigajinagi are the BJP MPs from Karnataka who did not speak in Parliament. Other names on the list include Shatrughan Sinha, Sunny Deol, Atul Rai, Pradan Baruah, and Dibyendu Adhikari. Except for Sinha and Rai, all others belong to the BJP. Shatrughan Sinha is a TMC MP, and Atul Rai is from the BSP.
What do the attendance records say about these 9 MPs?
Attendance records of MPs indicate that some of them did not bother to attend the proceedings of the Parliament. MPs such as Atul Rai, Sunny Deol, and Dibyendu Adhikari had mere attendance rates of 1%, 17%, and 24% respectively. Whereas, V. Srinivas Prasad, B.N. Bache Gowda had 32% and 39% attendance rates respectively. Additionally, Shatrughan Sinha, Anant Kumar Hegde, Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi, and Pradan Baruah exhibited higher attendance rates with 65%, 67%, 74%, and 85% respectively.
According to reports, three of them failed to submit a question or present a submission, while the remaining six utilised at least one Parliamentary instrument. Jigajinagi abstained from raising any questions or presenting submissions, in addition to not speaking in the House. However, the three other Karnataka MPs participated in some capacity, albeit not engaging in debates, as per records.
Similar to Jigajinagi, Sinha, renowned for his dialogue delivery in films, and Rai also refrained from any participation. Rai remained incarcerated throughout his tenure, while Sinha entered the Lok Sabha through a bypoll in April 2022. Among the nine MPs, six are from the ruling BJP, while two are from the Trinamool Congress—Sinha and Dibyendu Adhikari—and one from the BSP—Atul Rai.
Adhikari, Bachegowda, Baruah, Deol, Hegde, and Prasad did not speak, but either submitted questions or presented submissions. It's reported that Deol did not speak but did table written submissions during discussions.
Speaker's attempt
According to a senior Parliament official cited in The Hindu report, the Speaker of the House extended Sunny Deol the opportunity to speak twice, but both attempts proved futile.
According to Lok Sabha statistics, the 17th Lok Sabha witnessed the passage of 222 Bills and ministers orally responding to 1,116 questions. Additionally, 5,568 issues were raised during the Zero Hour.
Among the attendance records of the nine MPs, ranging from January 2023 to December 2023, significant disparities emerge. Notably, MPs like Pradan Baruah, with an attendance rate of 85%, and Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi, at 74%, displayed commendable dedication to their parliamentary duties throughout the year. Conversely, others, such as Atul Rai and Dibyendu Adhikari, with mere 1% and 24% attendance rates respectively, were notably absent from parliamentary proceedings for the majority of the period.
According to PRS Legislative Research's data analysis, the average attendance of MPs during the 17th Lok Sabha stood at 79%. This calculation excludes MPs who served as ministers for the entire term, as well as the Speaker, whose attendance isn't documented. Specifically, male MPs had an average attendance of 79%, while female MPs averaged 77%.
MP attendance has consistently fluctuated between 75% and 80% since the 15th Lok Sabha. Notably, in the current Lok Sabha, nearly 60% of MPs boast attendance rates exceeding 80%, while around 10% of members demonstrate attendance below 60%. This distribution pattern remains relatively consistent with that observed in the 16th and 15th Lok Sabhas.
