TDP MPS clocked highest average attendance in 17th LS, AAP lowest
Of all the political parties represented in the Lok Sabha, the Members of Parliament (MPS) of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) clocked the highest average attendance in the 17th Lok Sabha, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The lowest average attendance was that of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPS.
Notably, the 17th Lok Sabha saw the fewest sittings among all full-term Lok Sabhas to date. Only four previous Lok Sabhas have had fewer sittings but these were dissolved before completing fiveyear terms.
It was also the first Lok Sabha where a deputy speaker was not elected. Article 93 of the Indian Constitution says that the Lok Sabha must elect a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker “as soon as may be”.
The ADR released the ‘Analysis of Performance of MPS in the 17th Lok Sabha’ on Tuesday based on the performance and attendance of the 521 sitting members, ex-members, and the Anglo-indian nominated members.
The analysis showed that three MPS from TDP attended 229 sittings on an average out of the total 273. They were Jayadev Galla from Guntur, Kesineni Srinivas from Vijayawada and Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu from Srikakulam.
The TDP was followed by the MPS of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Janata Dal (United) with an average attendance of 226 and 218 sittings respectively.
The CPI(M) has three Lok Sabha MPS and JD(U) has 16.
On an average, 559 MPS (including those elected to the LS in bypolls) from all parties attended 189 sittings.
The data also showed that AAP MPS clocked the lowest average attendance.
The two MPS of the party considered for the survey, Bhagwant Mann from Sangrur and Sushil Kumar Rinku from Jalandhar, attended 57 sittings on an average out of 273 during the 17th Lok Sabha.