Muted performance by first-term MPs in 17th Lok Sabha, shows data

Those who became a member of parliament (MP) for the first time were more active during the last Lok Sabha than the current one.

Debates, questions and the moving of private member bills all had fewer first-term MPs behind them than seen previously, shows a Business Standard analysis of data from tracker PRS Legislative Research. The analysis considered data as of August 2023 for the 17th Lok Sabha. There are as many as 272 first-term MPs currently serving in the Lok Sabha.

For every 100 debates involving experienced MPs, first-term MPs participated in 182 in the previous Lok Sabha. This ratio dropped to 92 in the 17th Lok Sabha, falling behind experienced ones (Chart 1).
 

Hibi Eden, the Congress MP from Ernakulam, says that he is eager to participate in conversations but has "unfortunately not got that space."

"The least number of debates has taken place in the Parliament in the last four and a half years. I believe that more creative discussion should take place and the ruling party should give way to more debates, which is the need of the hour," he said.

First-term MPs moved 94 private member bills for every 100 by experienced ones in the previous Lok Sabha. This has dropped to 56 in the current one (Chart 2).



Their relative outperformance when it comes to questions asked has also come down. They asked 70 per cent more questions previously, and now ask roughly the same number as their other colleagues (Chart 3).
 

"Earlier we used to see that the opposition was not allowing the House to run but unfortunately now the government is not allowing the House to run. The government is introducing the bills but not allowing enough time for discussion," said Kunwar Danish Ali, a first-term Bahujan Samaj Party MP from Amroha.

Tejasvi Surya, the Bharatiya Janata Party MP from South Bangalore, on the other hand, said that first-term MPs today are getting a lot more opportunities to engage with the House compared to first-term MPs earlier and that there is quite enthusiastic participation by first-term MPs across party lines.

"If the overall productivity of the 17th Lok Sabha has dropped, then the interventions of the first-term MPs can be seen as corresponding to that lowering of the overall productivity. So if there are disruptions in the Parliament and if the Parliament does not function for days together, then one will not get a chance to ask questions and participate in the debates," he added.

"During a recent session, I had an important question on the farm bills. But unfortunately, because the House was adjourned, I was unable to ask my question and that upset me," said Ali. He has participated in 138 debates in the current Lok Sabha, asked 191 questions and tabled two private member bills so far.

"I got five starred questions in the previous session (monsoon session) but unfortunately, I was unable to ask them because of the Manipur issue," Eden added. Eden, who has participated in 57 debates so far and tabled nine private member bills, has asked 299 questions in the House.

Surya says there are multiple factors that come into play.

"The party allots time and for a particular duration during a particular debate. We are a party of 303 MPs, so the larger the pool of MPs in a party the fewer chances everyone will repeatedly get. Besides, the sensitivity of the issue, regional and geographic sensitivity, and whether the issue discussed is directly connected to the MP also inform the participation of a member," he said. Surya has participated in 31 debates in the House and asked 347 questions. He has not tabled a private member bill so far.

Female first-term MPs seem to be given less of a chance to talk than their male colleagues. While ratios have improved over the previous Lok Sabha, women asked 19 questions for every 100 by a male first-term MP. They participated in 16 debates for every 100 by men, and were allowed to move nine private member bills for every 100 by their male colleagues (Chart 4).