BJP MPs top Rajya Sabha attendance rate, small party veterans lead debates

Among the Congress MPs, the highest attendance was of Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu from Telangana, while the lowest was of former Union minister K Chiranjeevi with 32 per cent.

NEW DELHI: With 58 members of the Upper House completing their terms on April 2, it’s time perhaps to look back on the terms of outgoing members and analyse and how they performed.

The Sunday Standard scrutinised the data provided on the Rajya Sabha website and dug out the top and worst performers. The criteria used included attendance, a number of debates participated in, a number of questions asked and number of private Bills introduced.

Of all the retiring Members of Parliament (MP), the best attendance record is of BJP MPs, with most of them recording over 90 per cent attendance. The highest attendance — 99 per cent — was recorded by Ramakrishna Rangyasree, party MP from Karnataka, while the lowest among the saffron party legislators was 72 per cent by Ajay Sancheti from Maharashtra.

Among the Congress MPs, the highest attendance was of Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu from Telangana, while the lowest was of former Union minister K Chiranjeevi with 32 per cent. Incidentally, the actor-turned-politician is the worst performer among the outgoing MPs. He participated in only two debates, didn’t ask a single question and moved no Bill.Elders from regional parties were at the forefront of debates, with the top three participating MPs belonging to these.

Darshan Singh of the Samajwadi Party was at the top of the list by participating in 667 debates. He was followed by BJD’s Dilip Tirkey. The former captain of the Indian hockey team participated in 379 debates. Tapan Kumar Sen of the CPI(M) was part of 346 debates.

The highest number of questions asked by any MP in the Upper House was 838 by C M Ramesh, Telugu Desam Party MP from Andhra Pradesh. He was followed by Darshan Singh (Samajwadi Party), who asked 667 questions. Closely behind was Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar with 641 questions.

While most outgoing members did not move any private member Bills in the House, the highest number of Bills — 27 — was moved by Vivek Gupta of the Trinamool Congress. He was followed by Congress’s Satyavrat Chaturvedi (MP from Uttar Pradesh) with 10 Bills and Javadekar (MP from Madhya Pradesh) with eight Bills.Among the outgoing MPs are six Cabinet ministers.