Adhir, Manoj Jha, Brittas among those nominated

New Delhi: Thirteen MPs, including Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, RJD's Manoj Jha and CPI-M's John Brittas, have been nominated for the Sansad Ratna Awards 2023.

The 13 MPs include eight from the Lok Sabha and five from the Rajya Sabha, including three retired members, Prime Point Foundation, which has instituted the award, said in a statement.

A jury committee chaired by Union Minister of State Arjun Ram Meghwal and co chaired by former Chief Election Commissioner of India S Krishnamurthy also nominated two departmentally related standing committees and a distinguished leader under the special awards category.

The committee comprises eminent parliamentarians and civil society members. Among those nominated are Bidyut Baran Mahato (BJP, Jharkhand), Dr Sukanta Majumdar (BJP, West Bengal), Kuldeep Rai Sharma (INC, Andaman Nicobar Islands), Dr Heena Vijayakumar Gavit (BJP, Maharashtra), Gopal Chinayya Shetty (BJP, Maharashtra), Sudhir Gupta (BJP, Madhya Pradesh) and Dr Amol Ramsing Kolhe (NCP, Maharashtra) for their performance in the 17th Lok Sabha under various categories.

The nominations are based on the cumulative performance in Questions, private members bills and initiated debates of members from the beginning of the 17th Lok Sabha until the end of Winter Session 2022.

The performance data of the members has been sourced from the data provided by PRS India, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Brittas, Jha, Fauzia Tahseen Ahmed Khan (NCP, Maharashtra) have been nominated for their performances in Rajya Sabha in 2022 under the 'Sitting Members' category, while Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP) and Chhaya Verma (INC, Chhattisgarh) have been nominated for the Award under the 'Rajya Sabha Members Retired in 2022' category for their outstanding performance during their term.

The Finance Committee (Lok Sabha Committee Chairman Jayant Sinha, BJP, Jharkhand) and Transport, Tourism and Culture Committee (Rajya Sabha Committee - Chairman V Vijayasai Reddy, YSR Congress, Andhra Pradesh) are nominated for Awards for their outstanding cumulative performance from the beginning of the 17th Lok Sabha until the end of Winter Session of 2022. In 2022, the Foundation and PreSense introduced a new category "Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Lifetime Achievement Award" to honour veteran leaders for their contribution to Indian politics, the society and the people.

The Committee has nominated T K Rangarajan, (ex Rajya Sabha MP for two terms and a senior CPI-M Leader) for the award. The awards will be presented on March 25 here on behalf of the civil society, the Foundation said. The Sansad Ratna Awards were instituted at the suggestion of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to honour top performing Parliamentarians. He himself launched the first edition of the award function in 2010 at Chennai. Till now, 90 top performing Parliamentarians have been honoured with the award.