Young Turks
In a new House, the focus is always on the young members. There are 12 MPs below 30 years of age, all of them first-timers. At 26, the youngest MP is not exactly a baby of the House. The 6.4-foot tall MP Dushyant Chautala, grandson of former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala, comes prepared to the House. With an impressive record of 88 per cent attendance, he has 162 questions to his credit, while participating in 25 debates. However, being young MPs certainly does not necessarily translate into being active. Newly-married Tej Pratap Yadav, the grand nephew of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, is yet to shed his shyness. He has neither asked any question nor participated in any debate. In the under-30 category, TMC’s Uma Sareen is yet to make her maiden intervention.
There are 12 MPs below 30 years of age, all of them first-timers.
The Inquisitive Bunch
There are 20 members who have asked an impressive over 150 questions, almost clocking an average of asking three questions a day. While seven members have participated in over 50 debates.
Shiv Sena MP Shivaji Adhalrao Patil is the top scorer with 194 questions to his credit. His fellow Marathi and NCP MP from Baramati Supriya Sule is a close second with 193 questions, followed by Chandu Barne Shrirang of the Shiv Sena, whose count stood at 192.
Some of the MPs who have made the ministers toil hard through their questions include BV Nayak (Congress, 182 questions); Dhananjay Bhimrao Mahadik (NCP, 180); Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM, 179); Dhruva Narayana Rangaswamy (Congress, 179); Anto Antony (Congress, 178); Nishikant Dubey (BJP, 169).
20 members have asked over 150 questions
100% Attendance
President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee, also has 48 questions and five debates under his belt. Interestingly, in terms of percentage, AIADMK has the highest number of MPs who have full attendance—16 MPs of the total 38 which means 42 per cent of the party’s MPs have cent percent attendance.
Only 34 (12 per cent) of the BJP’s 282 MPs have achieved 100 percent attendance.
Yet to Open Account
There are 36 MPs, including Tej Pratap and Sareen, who are yet to open their accounts in terms of asking questions or participating in debates. TMC that has been in protest mode since the beginning of Parliament has the maximum number of members—12 of the total 34—who are yet to participate in any discussion. Prominent among them include Moon Moon Sen, Subrata Bakshi, Dasrath Tirkey, Saumitra Khan, Renuka Sinha, Prasun Banerjee, Mamata Thakur, Kapil Krishna Thakur, Choudhury Mohan Jatua, Bijoy Chandra Barman, Anupam Hazra.
From the BJP, veteran MM Joshi, actor-turned-MP Shatrughan Sinha, Udyanraje Pratapsinhmaharaj Bhonsle, Manshankar Ninama, Nagendra Singh, Kariya Munda,
K C Patel, Janak Ram, Ashok Kumar Doharey, Vitthalbhai Radadiya and Ramesh Bais are yet to participate in a debate or ask a question.
From the Congress, former minister Kamal Nath and Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury are part of the list.
Compulsive Debaters
There are seven members who have participated in over 50 debates. PP Chaudhary, a Supreme Court lawyer who won his first election from Rajasthan, has been putting his court room experience to good use. He emerged top of the pack as he participated in maximum number of debates—65. CPI(M) MP from Kerala MB Rajesh, 43, is close second with participation in 62 debates. The other members in the top club are RSP’s NK Premachandran, P K Biju, RJD’s Pappu Yadav, Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD), P Karunakaran (CPI-M).
36 MPs have still not asked a question or participated in a debate
Rahul Gandhi, who is currently on sabbatical, has above-average attendance of 62 per cent while Congress President Sonia Gandhi has clocked 66 per cent. Interestingly, both of them are yet to independently ask any question or participate in any debate. However, both of them associated themselves with an issue raised by Trinamool MP Saugata Roy, when he spoke on Israel attack on Gaza. This association opened their account. BJP veteran leader LK Advani, the oldest MP in the Lok Sabha at 87 years, participated in a discussion on Kousar Nag Yatra in South Kashmir in August last year. Murli Manohar Joshi though was present for 91 per cent of time, he is yet to participate in any discussion. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has 95 per cent attendance and has participated in 15 debates. Former PM H D Deve Gowda, has 84 per cent attendance and participated in nine debates.