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This is an archive article published on April 11, 2024
No name from Bengal in list of MPs with Top 50 attendance
The 17th Lok Sabha had 273 sittings and it is scheduled to end on June 16 this year. During the five-year period, 505 MPs asked a total of 92,271 questions.
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When it comes to the ruling Trinamool Congress, many big-ticket leaders clocked dismally low attendance levels. Actor-turned-politician Dev, who is the sitting MP from Ghatal, recorded the lowest attendance of all state MPs at 12 per cent. Despite an enviable attendance record, MPs from West Bengal have been lagging behind their peers when it comes to attending House sessions. Parliament records between 2019 and 2023 show that no MP from the state could make it to the list of parliamentarians with Top 50 attendance levels, according to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an independent election observer, on Wednesday.
The MP with the highest attendance among the parliamentarians from the state is BJP’s Khagen Murmu, who represents the Malda Uttar seat. Ranked 59, his attendance is 94.1 per cent and he attended 257 House sittings during the five-year period, the report stated.
The 17th Lok Sabha had 273 sittings and it is scheduled to end on June 16 this year. During the five-year period, 505 MPs asked a total of 92,271 questions.
When it comes to the ruling Trinamool Congress, many big-ticket leaders clocked dismally low attendance levels. Actor-turned-politician Dev, who is the sitting MP from Ghatal, recorded the lowest attendance of all state MPs at 12 per cent. TMC’s second in command and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee fared marginally better at 14.7 per cent – attending just 40 sittings out of the total 273.
Other TMC leaders who recorded low attendance levels were Jadavpur MP and actor Mimi Chakraborty (21 per cent), Basirhat MP Nusrat Jahan Ruhi (39 per cent) and Asansol MP Shatrughan Sinha (22.3 per cent). TMC leader and former Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra had attended 218 sittings and recorded a 79.9 per cent attendance, before she was expelled from Parliament over the cache-for-query allegations. Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee managed a 68.5 per cent attendance by being present for 187 sittings between 2019 and 2023.
Other members from BJP who recorded high attendance levels were Jhargram MP Kumar Hembram (90.8 per cent), Darjeeling MP Raju Bista (90.8 per cent), Medinipur MP Dilip Ghosh (83.2 per cent), Balurghat MP Sukanta Majumdar (73.3 per cent) and Kolkata Uttar MP Sudip Bandopadhyay (73.3 per cent). In contrast, Union Minister and Cooch Behar MP Nisith Pramanik attended just 92 sittings and managed 33.7 per cent attendance. Congress state unit chief and Barhampur MP Adhir Chowdhury had an 89.4 per cent attendance.
ADR members also said that many MPs forget to sign the attendance register sometimes despite attending House sessions.
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“It is a common practice that ministers, the Leader of Opposition, officers of Parliament and the Prime minister often do not sign the members’ attendance register. As the complete data for such functionaries is not available in the public domain, the same has not been recorded in this report,” said Ujjaini Halim of West Bengal Election Watch and ADR.
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