The attendance records of many “star” Members of Parliament (MPs) in the 16th Lok Sabha are poor, according to PRS Legislative Research data.
Hema Malini, actress turned politician and a BJP MP from Mathura, has as low as 36% attendance and has participated in just 11 debates in Parliament since 2014. Babul Supriyo, singer-turned-politician and a Minister of State in the Narendra Modi Cabinet, has just 45% attendance in Parliament, with no participation in any debate, till he became a Minister, according to the research data.
Vinod Khanna, another actor-turned-politician and MP from BJP, has 53% attendance in Parliament, with 0% attendance during the Winter and Monsoon sessions of Parliament in 2015 and Budget session this year. The MP has also not asked a single question in the Lok Sabha and has participated in just seven debates since 2014.
Among the other poor record holders in Parliament in terms of attendance and performance is Deepak Adhikari (Dev), a Bengali actor turned MP from the TMC, who has just 9% attendance in the 16th Lok Sabha, with participation in just one debate and no questions asked. Dimple Yadav of the Samajwadi Party also has a poor record in Parliament, with just 36% attendance and participation in just two debates with zero questions asked.
In general, out of the total 285 MPs of the BJP in Parliament, only five MPs have managed to score a 100% record of attendance in the 16th Lok Sabha, while only one Congress MP has a 100% attendance record, according to the PRS Legislative Research data.
Senior Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi also do not hold a good record of participation and attendance in Parliament. Rahul Gandhi has just 54% attendance in Parliament, with just 29% attendance during the current Budget session. Also, he has participated in just 11 debates inside the House and has neither asked a single question nor introduced a single private members’ bill in Parliament since 2014.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and MP from Rae Bareli has 61% attendance, with participation in six debates. She has also neither asked any questions in Parliament nor has she introduced any private members’ bill in Parliament.
However, a total of 20 BJP MPs have less than 70% attendance in Parliament, with seven BJP MPs having less than 50% attendance till 20 March 2017, according to the PRS Legislative Research data. Seven Congress MPs also feature in the same list and surprisingly, three out of the four Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs have less than 60% attendance record in Parliament.
The BJP also has 81 MPs out of the total 285 MPs who have been attending Parliament regularly, with a record of 95% attendance. Among the regular attendees in Parliament are senior BJP leaders including L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Mahesh Sharma, Anurag Thakur, Jayant Sinha, among many others.