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BJP MPs top attendance chart in House panel meets: Data
Secretariat data shows 92 BJP members of the Upper House had an average attendance of 56.56% while those of the Congress (38 MPs) had 41.86%.
On average, Rajya Sabha members belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party attended parliamentary committee meetings more frequently than their Congress counterparts in the last year, according to the data shared by the Rajya Sabha secretariat. This was even as the principal opposition party remained vocal for closer scrutiny of legislation in House panels.
Secretariat data shows 92 BJP members of the Upper House had an average attendance of 56.56% while those of the Congress (38 MPs) had 41.86%. A total of 361 meetings were held of various committees between September 2020 and August this year. However, the overall attendance for Rajya Sabha was 46%.
Explaining this, some lawmakers said large parts of India were plagued by Covid-19 during this period and virtual meetings were not allowed.
Among the smaller parties, Telugu Desam Party’s lone member in the Rajya Sabha, Ravindra Kumar, attended 9 out of every 10 meetings.
Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party had an impressive 77% attendance rate with 3 MPs, followed by Shiv Sena (75%) with 3members and YSRCP (67%) with 6 MPs.
The data is part of a review ordered by Rajya Sabha chairman, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, in a bid to improve the attendance of MPs in House panel meetings.
Higher participation in standing committee meetings is essential for their functioning as these panels have often suffered due to lack of quorum (5 members) in the past, said officials, adding that Naidu has requested all panel heads to ensure a minimum of 50% attendance in all meetings even as the minimum requirement or quorum is much lower.
Earlier this week, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, too, sought a report on the attendance of Lok Sabha MPs in parliamentary committee meetings.
Meetings with the highest attendance were those of the committee on defence (88%) followed by chemicals and fertilisers (83%); the panel on home affairs saw 78% attendance.
The attendance reports also assume significance as the two presiding officers have often spoken about shifting MPs with low attendance to other panels. “This latest exercise also comes ahead of the reshuffle in the House panels,” said a senior Rajya Sabha official on condition of anonymity.
There are 16 panels under the jurisdiction of the Lok Sabha and eight under Rajya Sabha. All parliamentarians are entitled to be members of at least one committee.
Samajwadi Party’s Ramgopal Yadav, BJP’s Rakesh Sinha, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s P.Wilson, Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s K Keshava Rao and Congress veteran Anand Sharma are among the 16 members in the House of 231 who have 100% attendance. The list includes 10 BJP MPs, 3 from Congress and one each from SP, DMK and TRS. A total of 131 members, accounting for 54% of the Upper House, have attended at least half of the panel meetings.
But senior opposition leaders said that insistence on regular attendance during a pandemic is unnecessary.
“These average comparison figures may actually be far more misleading than revealing because the period is bang in the middle of Covid-19. Attendance of members, as it must be, was dictated by personal consideration,” said Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha.
“The correct solution would have been to ensure virtual meetings. In the absence of such digital meetings, to expect people of different levels of morbidity, age and other factors to attend more meetings is absolutely unrealistic,” he added.
But experts thought regular attendance was crucial in the functioning of democracy. “MPs should be committed to their legislative responsibilities both in the House, whose sittings are televised, and also in committee meetings where important technical work takes place,” said Chakshu Roy, head of outreach of PRS Legislative Research.
He said the latest data “highlights the seriousness with which MPs take their legislative responsibilities, in a closed-door setting”. “Such regular release of data is critical in making the working of our parliamentary committees transparent,” Roy added.
