Ahead of Monsoon Session small parties lead MPs attendance rankings

As Parliament's Monsoon Session is set to witness heated debates over issues such as the Ram temple controversy and the NEET-UG paper leak, the attendance of MPs is expected to play a key role. An analysis of attendance records from the Budget Session, which concluded in April, by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) shows that smaller parties with only a handful of MPs recorded the highest attendance in both Houses, according to Ambika Pandit's Times of India report.

In the Lok Sabha, 101 MPs attended all 31 sittings of the Budget Session, accounting for just over one-fifth (21%) of the 483 members whose attendance data was publicly available.

Among political parties, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), represented solely by Hanuman Beniwal from Nagaur, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), whose two MPs are Chandan Chauhan (Bijnor) and Rajkumar Sangwan (Baghpat), registered a perfect attendance record across all 31 sittings. The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and the Zoram People's Movement followed closely, with their MPs attending 30 of the 31 sittings. The Samajwadi Party ranked next, with its 37 MPs averaging 28.43 sittings.


Overall, only 45.7% of the 483 Lok Sabha members attended at least 90% of the sittings or signed the attendance register on those days. The report, based on attendance data published on the websites of both Houses, analyses party-wise trends during the Budget Session.

Among the larger parties, the BJP, with attendance data available for 191 MPs, recorded an average attendance of 26.46 sittings per member. The Congress, whose data covered 97 MPs, averaged 23.13 sittings. Regional parties fared lower, with the Trinamool Congress averaging 15 sittings and the DMK averaging 14.64 sittings among its 22 MPs.

In the Rajya Sabha, 119 of the 255 members, or 46.6%, attended at least 90% of the sittings or signed the attendance register on those days.

Regional parties dominated the attendance rankings in the Upper House. The DMDK topped the list with its lone MP, L K Sudhish, recording 100% attendance, followed by the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, whose three MPs averaged 94.62%. MPs from the JD(S), MNF, BJD, Samajwadi Party, NPP and Shiv Sena also recorded average attendance of over 90%.

Despite being the largest party in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP registered an average attendance of 84.39%, while the Congress recorded 80.66%, according to the report.

(With TOI inputs)