Only a few Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Lok Sabha maintain a healthy attendance record.The national average attendance for the 16th Lok Sabha MPs is 82%. Some MPs do submit a leave application when they are absent for a longer period. In the first 2 odd years of the 16^th Lok Sabha, a total of 37 leave applications were received from 30 different members of the Lok Sabha. These 37 applications together sought a leave of 1149 days.

Why does a MP need to submit a leave application?

Article 101 of the Constitution of India lays down conditions for declaring a parliamentary seat as vacant. One of the conditions talks about absence of members from the house. If any MP is absent for a continuous period of sixty days (60) without permission, the house can declare his seat as vacant. Hence MPs submit leave applications when they are absent from the house for a relatively longer period.

The MP is supposed to submit his leave application to the Speaker of the house citing the reasons for absence.  One single leave application cannot exceed 60 days. All the leave applications thus received are referred to the ‘Committee on Absence of Members from the Sittings of the House’. The committee meets and decides on each leave application. A suitable recommendation is made on each leave application. Leave applications are never rejected in practice. The recommendations made by the committee are ratified by the house.  The committee is currently chaired by P Karunakaran of the CPI(M), a MP from Kerala.

37 Leave applications in the 16^th Lok Sabha

Till date, 37 leave applications were submitted by 30 different MPs in the 16^th Lok Sabha.  Out of the 37 leave applications, BJP MPs submitted 14 leave applications followed by 8 from MPs of Trinamool Congress and 4 from MPs of Indian National Congress. MPs from BJD submitted three leave applications while MPs from YSRCP, NCP & PDP submitted two applications each. MPs from JMM & PMK submitted one application each.

Illness is the topmost reason for absence

21 of the 37 leave applications mentioned illness as the reason. 20 of them mentioned self illness while one application by a BJP MP mentioned illness in family as the reason. Eight applications mentioned elections in their constituency as the reason for their absence. Two applications mentioned constituency related work as the reason while the three applications from the BJD MP mentioned ‘Under Judicial Custody’ as the reason. The BJD MP was arrested by the CBI in the chit fund scam. Two other applications mentioned visit abroad as the reason for absence including one from BJP MP Hema Malini. Only one application by a Trinamool Congress MP mentioned multiple reasons in the application like Visit Abroad, marriage in the family and relief work in constituency. One of the Trinamool Congress MPs who applied for leave because of illness eventually passed away in October 2014. One BJP MP mentioned ‘Death in Family’ as the reason for absence.

The committee recommended all the leave applications  

The committee recommended all the leave applications received from MPs. In only three cases, it did not recommend the number of days as applied by the MP. In the case of INC MP, Amarinder Singh, the committee recommended leave for 59 days and asked him to apply afresh for the remaining. Same was the case with the leave application of  YSRCP MP, S P Y Reddy.  In the case of BJD MP Rama Chandra Hansdah, who is under judicial custody, the committee condoned 67 days of leave. In all the other cases, the committee recommended the same number of days as applied by the MP. The BJD MP who is in judicial custody applied for a leave for the most number of days (171 days) followed by YSRCP MP, S P Y Reddy (89 days). Five other MPs applied for a leave of more than 50 days.