• Two MPs from Nagaland averaged 88 sittings out of 312
• Asked the third least average number of questions in LS
Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 27
The Members of Parliament from Nagaland State to the 16th Lok Sabha had the least average attendance at Parliament and also asked the third least number of questions at the floor of the House.
This was revealed in a report released by the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) based the analysis of performance of MPs of the 16th Lok Sabha, elections for which are scheduled to be held next month.
Out of 312 total sittings of the 16th Lok Sabha, the two representatives who occupied the lone seat from Nagaland over the course of four years, attended only 88 sittings on an average.
One of the MPs in question includes current Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio who was elected to the Lok Sabha in May, 2014 and resigned in February 2018. Rio, who was a member of Naga People’s Front (NPF) back then, attended 151 sittings during his tenure.
The other is the current MP from Nagaland Tokheho Yepthomi who is up for re-election as PDA consensus candidate for the upcoming polls. He attended 24 sittings in the Lok Sabha. It may be noted that Yepthomi was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in May, 2018, after Rio chose to vacate it and became the Chief Minister heading the NDPP led People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA).
Nagaland’s average sitting of 88 was a whopping 40 sittings less than the next lowest attendance, which came from an analysis of two MPs from Arunachal Pradesh, who averaged at 128 sittings.
At the other end of the scale, analysis of seven MPs from NCT Delhi averaged at 289 sittings. The ADR’s analysis of Nagaland’s neighbour Manipur showed that its two MPs had the second best attendance with 287 sittings, while another North East state Mizoram’s lone MP came third with an average attendance of 281.
The poor attendance of Nagaland’s MPs to India’s Lower House of Parliament was not the only blight on their performance, as they also asked the third least number of questions in the house. In four years of the 16th LS’s existence which included 312 sittings, the report revealed that the state’s MPs asked only 12 questions on an average.
Out of this, Neiphiu Rio from the NPF asked 20 questions in his 151 sittings, while Tokheho Yepthomi Yepthomi from the NDPP asked four questions in his 24 sittings, resulting in an average of 12.
The state’s that asked fewer questions than Nagaland were Puducherry, whose one MP asked 11 questions, while Mizoram's lone MP submitted only 4 questions.
The highest number of questions was meanwhile asked by Maharashtra’s 50 MPs, who posed 534 queries, followed by Chandigarh’s sole MP asking 436 questions. Among the North East states, the solitary MP from Sikkim came fourth asking 403 questions. Tripura also made it to the top 10 in this list with its two MPs posing 301 questions.
Party-wise, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which has two MPs, averaged the highest attendance with 264 sittings. At the other end of the scale, the National People’s Party’s (NPP) two MPs registered the lowest average sittings at 10.
The Shiv Sena with its eighteen MPs asked the highest number of questions with 639 queries, while the two MPs from the NPP asked the lowest number of questions with only 10 queries.
Meanwhile the ruling BJP registered an average of 230 sittings, with its 284 MPs asking 227 questions. The Congress with its fifty MPs averaged at 214 sittings, and 275 questions.
In terms of the 16th Lok Sabha’s legislative performance, the report revealed that out of 273 bills introduced, 240 were passed, 10 bills were withdrawn and 23 bills remain pending.
The report was generated by the ADR and the National Election Watch (NEW) from data obtained and compiled from the Lok Sabha website. For the analysis pertaining to questions asked by the MPs, data was obtained from the PRS Legislative Research. The report analysed data up to the 16th Session of the 16th Lok Sabha, i.e. December 20, 2018.
There are 521 sitting members in the Lok Sabha. The report included the analysis of sitting members, ex-members, and the Anglo-Indian nominated members of the 16th Lok Sabha.
The report informed that as per the Salary, Allowance, and Pension of Member of Parliament Act, 1954, all members of the House are required to mark their attendance for each sitting to seek the daily allowances. It may be noted that the MP does not include, Ministers, Leader of the Opposition, Officer of Parliament and the Prime Minister.
