VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, May 23: As the term of BJP MP Mahesh Poddar in the Rajya Sabha is set to expire on 7 July this year 2022, he has made good use of the Rajya Sabha to raise issues of the public. The term of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is also set to expire along with him.
They are among 76 Rajya Sabha members who are set to retire this year. Jharkhand has a total of 14 parliamentary seats and six Rajya Sabha seats. Currently, Shibu Soren (JMM), Deepak Prakash (BJP), Sameer Oraon (BJP), Dheeraj Prasad Sahu (Congress), Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (BJP), and Mahesh Poddar of the BJP are representing Jharkhand in the Upper House.
According to the analysis of the parliamentary activities of some members representing Jharkhand from 2006 onwards, there is a total of nine members, Deepak Prakash, Sameer Oraon, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Mahesh Poddar, Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu, Sanjiv Kumar, Hemant Soren, Jai Prakash Narayan Singh and Mabel Rebello have served Rajya Sabha for single term since 2006 onwards. The analysis was carried out by PRS Legislative Research.
On the other hand, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu and Parimal Nathwani (Independent) have served three times. M. J. Akbar, K. D. Singh, and S. S. Ahluwalia have served two times in Rajya Sabha, Shibu Soren has served Rajya Sabha four times and Prem Chand Gupta has served five times.
As per the PRS Research Data, there are only four members since 2005 who are having more than 90% presence in the Parliament, which includes Mahesh Poddar (92%) and Prem Chand Gupta (91%), S. S. Ahluwalia (96%) and Mabel Rebello (91%) attendance in the house.
The highest number of questions to this date was raised by Parimal Nathwani. He so far has raised 1621 questions in his three terms. He is followed by K. D. Singh with 811 questions. The third-highest number of questions was raised by Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu who raised 752 questions. The fourth highest number of questions— 617—was raised by Mahesh Poddar.
There are only 11 Members out of 16 Members since 2005 onwards, who have raised the matter under Special Mention in the Rajya Sabha. Mahesh Poddar has raised the maximum number of special mentions (16 issues) followed by Jai Prakash Narayan Singh.
There are only four members out of 16 since 2005 onwards, who have introduced the Private Member Bills in the Parliament. Mahesh Poddar has introduced a total of four Private Member Bills in his single tenure which is the highest figure among all the 16 members representing Jharkhand. K. D. Singh had introduced five Private Member Bills in his two terms, Mabel Rebello introduced three Private Member Bills in her single term and Jai Prakash Narayan Singh introduced one Private Member Bill in his single term.
Mahesh Poddar is the only member from Jharkhand who has spoken more than 100 times in the Parliament during his tenure. He has spoken 116 times in the Rajya Sabha, while the second-highest number of debates is 71 spoken by S. S. Ahluwalia. JMM’s Sanjiv Kumar had participated in the debate 68 times. As per the data available on PRS Legislative Research, overall Mahesh Poddar is the most active Member of Parliament representing Jharkhand.
