Lokmat Parliamentary Award 2022 has been organized in Delhi, this time former President Ram Nath Kovind has been the chief guest at the award ceremony. On this occasion, Lok Sabha member Bhartruhari Mahtab was awarded the title of Lifetime Achievement Award.
Bhartruhari Mahtab is an Indian politician, the son of Late Shri Dr. Harekrushna Mahatab. He is a member of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) political party. He was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 from Cuttack constituency in Odisha. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 from the same constituency. He received the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award 2017. He is also the recipient of Sansad Ratna Award 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 for his outstanding performance in 'Debates'.
The Lokmat Parliamentary Awards are given to outstanding Parliamentarians — four each from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — for their contribution in eight different categories. The awards were conceived in 2017 to recognise and encourage positive work done by parliamentarians every year and were conferred during 2017-2019 to winners by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. The awardees are selected by a distinguished jury headed by NCP president Sharad Pawar. Past winners include former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Sitaram Yechury, Jaya Bachchan, Supriya Sule, Nishikant Dubey, Hema Malini, Bharti Pawar, Sushmita Dev, Meenakshi Lekhi and Rajni Patil.