5 MPs have 100% attendance in LS
Sonia clocks more hours than son
New Delhi, June 3: Only five of the 545 members clocked cent per cent attendance in three years of the current Lok Sabha during which Congress president Sonia Gandhi attended more sittings than her son Rahul Gandhi.
Bhairon Prasad Mishra, the MP from Banda, Uttar Pradesh, participated in 1,468 debates and discussions, the highest in the Lok Sabha and has 100 per cent attendance record.
Twenty-two lawmakers from the Lower House attended only half of the sittings or less. Records of the Prime Minister and some ministers are not available as it is not mandatory for them to sign the attendance register. The Leader of the Opposition is also exempted from this.
The Congress president, who was unwell for some time, recorded 59 per cent attendance as against 54 per cent recorded by Rahul Gandhi.
In the last three years, Sonia Gandhi participated in five debates while the Rahul Gandhi took part in 11 debates, including one on inflation.
As per attendance data maintained by PRS Legislative, a non-profit research body that tracks Parliament functioning, 25 per cent MPs, 133 of the 545, have attended more than 90 per cent of the sittings while the national average for lawmakers is 80 per cent. Congress veterans like Veerappa Moily and Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also the Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, recorded 91 and 92 per cent attendance respectively, while the party’s young guns like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rajeev Satav attended 80 and 81 per cent of Lok Sabha sittings.