Data from the Lok Sabha reveals that among the 543 Members of Parliament, only nine did not actively participate in any debate or discussion on the House floor during the five-year tenure of the 17th Lok Sabha. Of these, six belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two are from the All-India Trinamool Congress (TMC), and one represents the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Notably, actors-turned-politicians Sunny Deol and Shatrughan Sinha were among those who remained silent throughout the entire term, which concluded on February 10.
Sunny Deol, a first-time MP representing Gurdaspur, did submit written materials during the five years, whereas Shatrughan Sinha did not contribute in any form. The 17th Lok Sabha's inaugural session commenced on June 17, 2019, following the General Election held in May of the same year.
The list of MPs who did not actively participate in debates.
This list includes BJP’s Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi (Bijapur SC, Karnataka); currently incarcerated BSP MP Atul Kumar Singh (Ghosi, UP); TMC’s Dibyendu Adhikari (Tamluk, West Bengal); BJP’s BN Bachegowda (Chikkaballapur, Karnataka); BJP’s Pradhan Baruah (Lakhimpur, Assam); BJP’s Sunny Deol (Gurdaspur, Punjab); BJP’s Anant Kumar Hegde (Uttara Kannada, Karnataka); BJP’s V Sreenivasa Prasad (Chamarajanagar SC, Karnataka); and TMC’s Shatrughan Sinha (Asansol, West Bengal).
Shatrughan Sinha was elected to the Lok Sabha in a bypoll on April 16, 2022. Despite Speaker Om Birla's encouragement for all first-time MPs to make maiden speeches in the Lower House, Sunny Deol did not participate in question hour, zero hour proceedings, or any debates. Speaker Birla reportedly made multiple attempts to motivate Sunny Deol to speak but without success. Out of the nine MPs, six, including Sunny Deol, submitted written materials for zero hour matters, starred and unstarred questions, but refrained from speaking. The remaining three (Shatrughan Sinha, Atul Singh, and Ramesh Chandappa) had no participation in the 17th Lok Sabha in written or oral forms, according to sources.