13% of Private Members’ Bills from State MPs
early 13% of the Private Members’ Bills moved in the 17th Lok Sabha were by MPs from Kerala.
A total of 729 such Bills were introduced in the 17th Lok Sabha. Of this, 95 Bills were moved by 13 of the 20 MPs from Kerala, according to data compiled by nonprofit PRS Legislative Research. In the Statewise data, Kerala stood at second position. The MPs from Maharashtra topped the list: 126 Bills. The statistics showed that only a few MPs had introduced the Bills. About 73% MPs did not introduce Private Members’ Bills (only an average of 1.5 Bills per MP).
A Private Members’ Bill is the only way for a parliamentarian who is not in the government, as a Minister, to introduce a piece of legislation. It enables members to draw attention to issues not represented in government Bills. Among the MPs from Kerala who introduced the Bills, N.K Premachandran. representing Kollam, moved the highest number (18) followed by Shashi Tharoor (Thiruvananthapuram) 13, Dean Kuriakose (Idukki) 12, and M.K. Raghavan (Kozhikode) 11.
The number of Bills moved by others: Hibi Eden (Ernakulam) 9, V K Sreekandan (Palakkad) 9, Kodikunnil Suresh (Mavelikara) 8, E.T Mohammed Basheer (Ponnani) 5, Benny Behanan (Chalakudy) 3, Thomas Chazhikadan (Kottayam) 3, Anto Antony (Pathanamthitta) 2, T.N. Prathapan (Thrissur) 1, and A.M. Arif (Alappuzha) 1.
Some of the Private Members’ Bills moved by the Kerala MPs include the Journalist Bill, 2022; the ASHA Workers Bill, 2020; the Anganwadi Worker’s Welfare Bill, 2022; the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2023 ; the High Court of Kerala (Establishment of a Permanent Bench at Thiruvananthapuram) Bill, 2023; and the Right of Women to Menstrual Leave and Free Access to Menstrual Health Products Bill, 2022.
Only 14 Private Members’ Bills have become laws so far.
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