Congress’ 16th Lok Sabha Report Card: Rahul, Sonia, 09 others ‘most inactive’

India

oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi

New Delhi, March 1: In the 16th Lok Sabha, Amethi Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi and Rae Bareli MP Sonia Gandhi failed on all the parliamentary parameters that determine activeness of a Member of Parliament.

According to PRS Legislative Research data, nine other Congress MPs also couldn't meet the national average of attendance, asking questions, participating in debates, and introducing Private Member's Bills.

These nine Congress Lok Sabha MPs are: Kamal Nath, Kantilal Bhuria, Mousam Noor, Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, Yellaiah Nandi, Prakash Babanna Hukkeri, KH Muniyappa, MI Shanavas, and KV Thomas.

Rajeev Satav, MP from Hingoli, Maharashtra, was the top all-rounder among Congress MPs in the 16th Lok Sabha.

Private Member Bill

Introducing Private Member Bill is also a very important right of Parliamentarians. An MP who is not a minister may introduce a Private Member's Bill. These Bills enable MPs to highlight legislative gaps and introduce Bills to address them.

Twenty-eight Congress MPs, including Rahul and Sonia, didn't even introduce a single Private Member Bill.

As per the PRS Legislative Research, a total of 34 Congress Members failed to match the national average of introducing Private Member Bill, which was 2.3 during 16th Lok Sabha.

Those who scored a zero on this parameter include: Asrarul Haque Mohammad, MP from Kishanganj, Bihar; KC Venugopal, MP from Alappuzha, Kerala; KV Thomas, MP from Ernakulam, Kerala; MI Shanavas, MP from Wayanad, Kerala; Ashok Chavan, MP from Nanded, Maharashtra; Thangso Baite, MP from Outer Manipur, Manipur; BN Chandrappa, MP from Chitradurag, Karnataka; DK Suresh, MP from Bangalore Rural, Karnataka; BV Nayak, MP from Raichur, Karnataka; KH Muniyappa, MP from Kolar, Karnataka; M Veerappa Moily, MP from Chikkballapur, Karnataka; Mallikarjun Kharge, MP from Gulbarga, Karnataka; Prakash Babanna Hukkeri, MP from Chikkodi, Karnataka; S.P. Muddahanumegowda, MP from Tumkur, Karnataka; VS Ugrappa, MP from Bellary, Karnataka; CL Ruala, MP from Mizoram; Gurjeet Singh Aujla, MP from Amritsar, Punjab; Kamal Nath, MP from Chindwarda, Madhya Pradesh; Kantilal Bhuria, MP from Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh; Karan Singh Yadav, MP from Alwar, Rajasthan; Raghu Sharma, MP from Ajmer, Rajasthan; Sukender Reddy Gutha, MP from Nalgonda, Telangana; Yellaiah Nandi, MP from Nagarkurnool, Telangana; Rahul Gandhi, MP from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh; Sonia Gandhi, MP from Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh; Abhijeet Mukherjee, MP from Jangipur, West Bengal; Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, MP from Maldaha Dakshin, West Bengal; and Mousam Noor, MP from Maldaha Uttar, West Bengal.

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Six Congress MPs introduced only one Private Member Bill in five years, they are: Biren Singh Engti, MP from Autonomous District, Assam; Tamradhawaj Sahu, MP from Durg, Chhattisgarh; Santokh Singh Chaudhary, MP from Jalandhar, Punjab; Anto Antony, MP from Pathanamthitta, Kerala; Sunil Kumar Jakhar, MP from Gurdaspur, Punjab; and Jyotiraditya Scindia, MP from Guna, Madhya Pradesh.

Fifteen Congress MPs introduced Private Member Bills more than the national average.

Rajeev Satav, MP from Hingoli, Maharashtra topped by introducing 23 Private Member Bills. Shashi Tharoor, MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, introduced 16 Bills.

Two MPs from Kerala- Vadakara MP Ramachandran Mullappally, and Kozhikode MP MK Raghavan introduced 15 Private Member Bills each.

They were followed by Arunachal Pradesh East MP Ninong Ering (09); Supaul, Bihar, MP Ranjeet Ranjan (08); Autonomous District, Assam, MP Gourav Gogoi (06); Mavelikkara, Kerala, MP (06); Baharampur, West Bengal, MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (05); Inner Manipur, MP Thokchom Meinya (04); Shillong, Meghalaya, MP Vincent H Pala (04); Chamrajanagar, Karnataka, MP Dhruva Narayana Rangaswamy (04); Ludhiana, Punjab, MP Ravneet Singh (04); Silchar, Assam, MP Sushmita Dev (03); and Rohtak, Haryana, MP Deepender Singh Hooda (03).

Questions

To hold the government accountable, members have the power to pose questions to various ministers. This is another parameter to assess the performance of the MPs.

The national average of questions asked by an MP was 292 during the 16th Lok Sabha.

Only 18 Congress MPs touched or crossed the national average of asking questions.

Rajeev Satav again topped by asking 1115 questions, followed by Ashok Chavan with 903 questions. Jyotiraditya Scindia was on the third spot by asking 851 questions.

They were followed by BV Nayak (688); Anto Antony (657); DK Suresh (647); Ramachandran Mullappally (645); S.P. Muddahanumegowda (640); Suresh Kodikunnil (535); Ravneet Singh (486); Shashi Tharoor (480); Sukender Reddy Gutha (367); KC Venugopal (352); MK Raghavan (339); BN Chandrappa (336); Mallikarjun Kharge (331); Sushmita Dev (317); and Gourav Gogoi (306).

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, KH Muniyappa, VS Ugrappa, and Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury did not ask even a single question during their five-year stint as an MP.

Others who failed to meet the national average were: KV Thomas (289); Ranjeet Ranjan (263); Vincent H Pala (263); Kamal Nath (261); Mousam Noor (243); MI Shanavas (231); Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (186); Abhijeet Mukherjee (174); Thokchom Meinya (173); Tamradhawaj Sahu (169); Yellaiah Nandi (167); Deepender Singh Hooda (115); Santokh Singh Chaudhary (74); Gurjeet Singh Aujla (35); Kantilal Bhuria (28); Sunil Kumar Jakhar (24); Karan Singh Yadav (21); Thangso Baite (18); Raghu Sharma (17); M Veerappa Moily (12); Asrarul Haque Mohammad (04); CL Ruala (04); Prakash Babanna Hukkeri (03); and Biren Singh Engti (01).

Attendance

Once a member is elected to the Lok Sabha then he/she is duty bound to attend all sittings of the house. According to PRS Legislative Research, 80% was the national average of attendance during 16th Lok Sabha.

Abhijeet Mukherjee was the front-runner and Prakash Babanna Hukkeri was poorest in attending the Lok Sabha.

In total, twenty-nine Congress MPs crossed or touched the national average of attendance.

They are: Abhijeet Mukherjee 96%, Thokchom Meinya 93%, Vincent H Pala 92%, Ramachandran Mullappally 92%, S.P. Muddahanumegowda 92%, Mallikarjun Kharge 91%, Thangso Baite 91%, CL Ruala 91%, Ranjeet Ranjan 90%, Karan Singh Yadav 90%, M Veerappa Moily 88%, Gurjeet Singh Aujla 88%, Ravneet Singh 88%, Santokh Singh Chaudhary 88%, Asrarul Haque Mohammad 87%, BN Chandrappa 87%, Raghu Sharma 87%, Shashi Tharoor 86%, DK Suresh 85%, VS Ugrappa 85%, Sunil Kumar Jakhar 85%, Dhruva Narayana Rangaswamy 84%, KC Venugopal 83%, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury 82%, Biren Singh Engti 81%, Deepender Singh Hooda 81%, Rajeev Satav 81%, Sushmita Dev 80%, and Tamradhawaj Sahu 80%

Twenty Congress MPs failed to touch the national average of attendance.

They are: Anto Antony 78%, KH Muniyappa 78%, Gourav Gogoi 77%, MK Raghavan 76%, Jyotiraditya Scindia 75%, KV Thomas 73%, Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury 73%, Yellaiah Nandi 72%, Ninong Ering 71%, Kantilal Bhuria 67%, Suresh Kodikunnil 69%, MI Shanavas 68%, BV Nayak 60%, Sonia Gandhi 60%, Kamal Nath 57%, Rahul Gandhi 52%, Sukender Reddy Gutha 47%, Mousam Noor 46% , Ashok Chavan 42%, Prakash Babanna Hukkeri 34%

Debates

MPs hold the government accountable by asking questions and participating in debates in Parliament.

In the 16th Lok Sabha, on an average, an MP participated in 67.1 debates

Sixteen MPs crossed or touched the national average of participation in the debates.

Rajeev Satav was the top performer among his party colleagues by participating in 205 debates.

Ramachandran Mullappally (162), Mallikarjun Kharge (155), KC Venugopal (135), Dhruva Narayana Rangaswamy (119), S.P. Muddahanumegowda (116), Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (114), MI Shanavas (100), DK Suresh (91), Shashi Tharoor (90), Ranjeet Ranjan (89), Sushmita Dev (85), Gourav Gogoi (83), Anto Antony (80), Thokchom Meinya (72), and MK Raghavan (70) were other Congress MPs who crossed or touched the national average of debates.

Thirty-three Congress MPs failed to meet the national average of debates.

They are: BN Chandrappa (57), Ravneet Singh (53), Ninong Ering (53), Deepender Singh Hooda (53), Jyotiraditya Scindia (48), MI Shanavas (46), KV Thomas (42), Abhijeet Mukherjee (33), Vincent H Pala (32), Tamradhawaj Sahu (32), Santokh Singh Chaudhary (28), KH Muniyappa (23), M Veerappa Moily (23), Thangso Baite (16), Karan Singh Yadav (16), Rahul Gandhi (14), Asrarul Haque Mohammad (14), Gurjeet Singh Aujla (13), Sukender Reddy Gutha (13), BV Nayak (11), Prakash Babanna Hukkeri (11), Kantilal Bhuria (09), Raghu Sharma (09), Ashok Chavan (09), Mousam Noor (09), Yellaiah Nandi (08), Sonia Gandhi (06), Sunil Kumar Jakhar (03), VS Ugrappa (02), CL Ruala (02), Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury (02), Kamal Nath (00), and Biren Singh Engti (00).