The average for asking questions is 53 and for taking part in debate is 12 per MP.
The BJP MPs who didn’t ask any questions in the last one year are—former Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad (Patna Sahib, Bihar), Radha Mohan Singh (East Champaran, Bihar), Mahesh Sharma (Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh), Sakshi Maharaj (Unnao, Uttar Pradesh), Udayanraje Bhonsle (Satara, Maharashtra) and Abhijeet Gangopadhyay (Tamluk, West Bengal) and Rajpalsinh Jadav (Panchmahal, Gujarat).
Udayanraje Bhonsle, a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj descendant and five-time MP, and Sakshi Maharaj also find themselves in the list of nine BJP MPs who have not participated in any debate in this Lok Sabha so far.
The other names include Union minister Narayan Rane (Ratnagiri–Sindhudurg, Maharashtra); Soumendu Adhikari (Kanthi, West Bengal), brother of Suvendu Adhikari; Jyotirmay Singh Mahato (Purulia, West Bengal); Shivmangal Singh Tomar (Morena, Madhya Pradesh); Kali Charan Singh (Chatra, Jharkhand); Mahendra Singh Solanki (Dewas, Madhya Pradesh); and Chintamani Mahraj (Surguja, Chhattisgarh).
Anita Nagar, a first-time MP from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh who has asked one question so far, told ThePrint, “I did not get the chance to ask any question despite putting questions several times. My questions did not find a slot in Lok Sabha.”
“I am simple worker. In Parliament, there are big leaders and they usually speak,” Shivmangal Singh Tomar, first-time MP (Morena, Madhya Pradesh)
Second-time MP Jyotirmay Singh Mahato, who has not participated in a single debate so far, told ThePrint, “I got two-three chances of participating in a debate. But whenever I rose to speak, either the time allotted to my party got over or there was a din in the House that did not allow me to speak. I was supposed to speak during the Budget Session, but before I could start, time ran out and the finance minister started her reply.”
Shivmangal Singh Tomar, the first-time MP from Morena, said he didn’t participate in any debate because he is a “simple worker” and “big leaders” usually speak in Parliament.
“I speak in my area Morena whenever the party assigns me to speak on any topic. I am a simple worker. In Parliament, there are big leaders and they usually speak. That is why I concentrate in my constituency rather than speaking in Parliament,” he said.
Also Read: 17th Lok Sabha report card: Just 2 MPs logged 100% attendance. Sonia, Akhilesh asked 0 questions
16 MPs record 100% attendance
Sixteen BJP MPs recorded 100 percent attendance in this Lok Sabha so far. But the record of some other MPs has not been that impressive. Mathura MP Hema Malini, for example, clocked 40 percent attendance, much below the overall average of 87 percent. However, the actor-turned-politician asked 16 questions and participated in four debates, unlike Udayanraje Bhonsle who neither asked any question nor participated in any debate.
At 60 percent, he also has the second worst attendance record among BJP MPs. Overall, 42 BJP MPs have recorded an attendance percentage below the average of 87.
Some of them are—Narayan Rane (67 percent), Berhampur MP Pradeep Panigrahi (68 percent), Bhojpuri actor and MP Ravi Kishan (69 percent), Chitradurg MP Govind Kajrol (73 percent), Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal (74 percent), Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya (76 percent), Bastar MP Mahesh Kashyap (76 percent) and former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s son Raghavendra (77 percent).
BJP leaders who clocked 100 percent attendance include prominent MP Nishikant Dubey (Godda), Jagdambika Pal (Basti), Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (South Delhi), Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia (Darrang-Udalguri), Satish Kumar Gautam (Aligarh), Shankar Lalwani (Indore), Janardan Mishra (Rewa) and Damodar Agarwal (Bhilwara).
Former Union minister and Akola MP Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre and Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahato are also in the list as are Khagen Murmu (Malda Uttar), Pradan Baruah (Lakhimpur, Assam), Amarsing Tisso (Diphu, Assam) Mitesh Rameshbhai Patel (Anand, Gujarat), Janardhan Singh Sigriwal (Maharajganj, BIhar) and Manna Lal Rawat (Udaipur, Gujarat).
Asking questions
Thirty-one BJP MPs have asked more than 100 questions across sessions in the past one year, which is almost double the average of 53.
First-time MP Praveen Patel, who represents the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency, is the top performer with 160 questions. Seasoned parliamentarian and multi-term MP Bhartruhari Mahtab is a close second with 152 questions and Smita Wagh 150 questions.
Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahato has asked 148 questions, and he says there is no “art” in this. “Since questions are selected through a lottery system, if you want to raise the problems in your constituency, there are many ways to attract the attention of officials and the government. When we travel in the constituency, people raise many problems and we try to address them by raising them in Parliament. You should find out a way to raise issues,” he told ThePrint.
Former Union minister P. P. Chaudhary, who is also the chairpersons of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on one nation one election, asked 142 questions, while Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan asked 138 questions even though his attendance was just 69 percent.
First-time MP Naba Charan Majhi (Rairangpur, Odisha) asked 136 questions, while Lumbaram Choudhary (Jalore-Sirohi, Maharashtra) asked 135 questions. Dilip Salkia asked 131 questions, Manoj Tiwari 126 questions and Nishikant Dubey 123.
Argumentative MPs
The 74-year-old Jagdambika Pal, who was also the chairman of the JPC on the Waqf Bill, participated in 75 debates against the average of just 12. Pal clocked 100 percent attendance in all the four sessions of this Lok Sabha so far.
“Since I have been MLA, I know how to utilise assembly or parliament’s time to raise people’s issues. That is why my questions figure in Lok Sabha every second or third day,” MP Smita Wagh who asked 150 questions.
Nishikant Dubey is second in terms of participation as he presented arguments in 42 debates, Dilip Sakia in 39, Bhartruhari Mahtab in 31 debates, and P.P. and Sudhir Gupta (MP from Mandsour) in 30 debates. Smita Wagh and Malvika Devi (Kalahandi, Odisha) participated in 28 debates.
Jagdambika Pal, who represents Basti in the House, said, “Often I reach Lucknow from my constituency in the morning and then take a flight to Delhi to reach Parliament in time. Parliamentarians have huge responsibility towards people, towards their parties and they always have to be on their toes to fulfil their responsibilities.”
Smita Wagh, with 96 percent attendance and 150 questions, said, “Since I have been an MLA, I know how to utilise assembly or Parliament’s time to raise people’s issues. That is why my questions figure in Lok Sabha every second or third day.”
How do ex-CMs & celebrities fare
The BJP fielded several former chief ministers in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and five of them emerged victorious, Madhya Pradesh’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Karnataka’s Basavaraj Bommai among them. Chouhan has been inducted in the Union cabinet as a minister so he does not need to mark attendance.
Bommai has recorded 83 percent attendance, just below the average of 87 percent, asked 75 questions and participated in two debates. Another former Karnataka chief minister, Jagadish Shettar, has recorded 85 percent attendance, asked 85 questions and taken part in one debate.
Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb has a decent attendance of 93 percent. He asked 72 questions and participated in only six debates. Former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat recorded 96 percent attendance. He asked 59 questions and participated in six debates.
Among celebrity MPs, Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, has recorded 92 percent attendance. He asked 81 questions and participated in 13 debates. His performance on these parameters are much better than Kangana Ranaut and Hema Malini’s, who have attendance percentages of 79 and 40, respectively.
Kangana asked 73 questions and participated in nine debates, while Hema Malini asked 16 questions and participated in only 4 debates.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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