BENGALURU: As the Parliament prepares to reconvene for the monsoon session on Monday with a packed legislative and financial agenda, the attendance records of Members of Parliament during the budget session have come under sharp focus, with two Karnataka MPs figuring among those with the poorest attendance.
According to an analysis of attendance data from the budget session, Congress MP Radhakrishna Doddamani, who represents Gulbarga in the Lok Sabha, did not attend a single sitting of the House, recording zero attendance in all 31 sittings. His absence comes at a time when the Parliament is expected to deliberate on several key Bills and financial measures. Another Karnataka MP, Priyanka Satish Jarkiholi, representing Belagavi, attended 13 of the 31 sittings, registering an attendance of 41.9%.
Sources close to MP Radhakrishna Doddamani, when contacted, said he looks after the health of a very close family member who has been critically ill and in ICU these past few months and in addition he was not keeping good health.
The figures collated by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Director Venkatesh Nayak shows that less than half of the Lok Sabha MPs (45.76%) attended between 90 and 100% of the sittings during the budget session. Even when the benchmark was lowered to 75% attendance, only 309 MPs—63.98% of the House—met the threshold, indicating that more than one-third of MPs failed to attend at least three-fourths of the proceedings.
Regional parties also displayed varying levels of participation. Among parties with more than 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) averaged attendance of only 15 sittings per MP, while the DMK’s 22 MPs averaged an even lower 14.64 sittings. State-wise, Uttarakhand recorded the highest average attendance at 30.5 days per MP, followed by Delhi, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh was the only southern state to feature among the Top 10, with its MPs averaging 27.41 sittings. At the other end of the spectrum, Assam recorded the lowest average attendance, with MPs attending only 15.69 sittings on average.
The report said the lone representatives from Chandigarh and Lakshadweep maintained 100% attendance. The attendance pattern was similar in the Rajya Sabha, where only 46.67% of MPs attended between 90 and 100% of the sittings, while 62.35% crossed the 75% attendance mark. Among Upper House parties, regional formations dominated the attendance rankings. The DMDK’s lone Rajya Sabha MP recorded 100% attendance, while the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference averaged 94.62%. Delhi topped the list among states and Union Territories with 99.67% average attendance, whereas West Bengal ranked last with an average attendance of 42.04%, followed by Tamil Nadu at 49.55%.
With the monsoon session expected to witness heated debates on legislation, economic policy and governance issues, the attendance figures are likely to renew questions over parliamentary accountability and the commitment of elected representatives to legislative business, Venkatesh Nayak said.
Karnataka MPs attendance (in %)
over 90%: Dr CN Manjunath (Bengaluru Rural), Dr K Sudhakar (Chikkaballapur), Shreyas M Patel (Hassan)
87%: Tejasvi Surya (Bangalore South), Ramesh Jigajinagi (Bijapur), Kota Srinivas Poojary ( Udupi-Chikkamagaluru)
83.8%: PC Mohan (Bengaluru Central), Mallesh Babu (Kolar)
80.6%: Jagadish Shettar (Belgaum), Kumar Naik ( Raichur)
74%: Sagar Khandre (Bidar), Yaduveer KC Wodeyar (Mysuru-Kodagu)
70.9%: PC Gaddigoudar (Bagalkot)
67.7%: Dr Prabha Mallikarjun (Davanagere), Basavraj Bommai (Haveri)
64.5%: Sunil Bose (Chamarajanagar)
61%: Govind Karjol (Chitradurga), BY Raghavendra (Shivamogga)
58%: E Tukaram (Ballari), Rajshekar Hitnal (Koppal)
41.9%: Priyanka Jarkiholi (Belagavi)