The former cricketer, Navjot Singh Sidhu, resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Monday as a BJP member, and it has been reported that he is likely to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and spearhead their campaign in upcoming Punjab Assembly elections.
This was Mr. Sidhu’s third innings as a Member of Parliament, albeit the shortest one, lasting for only 84 days. He was a member of the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha – from 2004 to 2009 and from 2009 to 2014 – after winning elections from the Amritsar Parliamentary constituency.
As a Lok Sabha member, how did Mr. Sidhu fare inhis legislative duties?
Here, we look at 4 metrics – attendance in Parliament, the number of debates participated, the number of questions asked in the question/answer session and the number of private bills introduced.
1. Attendance
In both 14th and 15th LS, Mr. Sidhu’s attendance was quite low compared to both the state and national average. In 15th LS, he attended parliament sessions on just 28 per cent of the days.
2. Debates
Mr. Sidhu has not participated in many debates – four in 14th LS and three in 15th LS. This is significantly lower compared to both the state and national average.
3. Questions:
In 14th LS, he asked more questions (224) compared to state and national average – the only metric where his performance is better. But in 15th LS, there was a sharp drop in the number of questions he asked (99), sliding below both the state and national average.
4. Private Bills Introduced
Bills introduced by MPs who are not ministers are called private members’ bills. Mr. Sidhu introduced no private member bills in both 14th and 15th LS.
In fact, most MPs don’t introduce private member bills, which is why the national average is less than one for both 14th and 15th LS. “Because of the futility of the whole exercise and the complexities involved in preparing bills, very few members get involved in this exercise,” Dr. Bhaskara Rao Gorantala wrote in a report for the National Social Watch.
What about other cricketers in Parliament?
Two other former cricketers were members of the 15th LS – Kirti Azad and Mohammad Azharuddin.
In contrast with Mr. Sidhu and Mr. Azharuddin, numbers for Mr. Azad were almost similar or better than the national average.
Star cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who unlike others is a nominated member of Rajya Sabha, has also been quite inactive in the parliamentary procedures, as the following chart shows.
He didn’t participate in any debate, has an abysmally low attendance of seven per cent and has asked just seven questions since his term started on 27 April, 2012.
