Sukhbir Badal, Mahua Moitra, Gadkari & others among 'most helpful MPs' in lockdown: Survey

According to a survey by GovernEye Systems, a New Delhi based citizen engagement platform, BJP’s Ujjain MP Anil Firojiya, YSRCP’s Nellore MP Adala Prabhakara Reddy, Union Minister and Nagpur MP Nitin Gadkari and former Congress chief and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi are among the leaders who extended maximum assistance to their constituents during the Coronavirus induced lockdown this year.

BJP Ujjain MP tops the list

A survey was launched on October 1 to find the most helpful Lok Sabha MPs during the COVID lockdown. A total of 33,82,560 valid nominations were received for 512 Lok Sabha MPs between Oct 1, 2020, and Oct 15, 2020. The top 25 MPs based on the number of nominations received were shortlisted for the field interviews stage.

After conducting field interviews in those 25 constituencies, Anil Firojiya (BJP) topped the list of 10 MPs followed by Adala Prabhakara Reddy (YSRCP), Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Mahua Moitra (TMC), L S Tejasvi Surya (BJP), Hemant Tukaram Godse (Shiv Sena), Sukhbir Singh Badal (SAD), Shankar Lalwani (BJP), Dr T Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian (DMK) and Nitin Jairam Gadkari (BJP) respectively, according to the survey.

Speaking about the results, Manjunath Keri, Senior Project Lead of the survey team, said, "The results don't reveal the stories of courage and selflessness of these MPs that our teams heard during their conversations with people across various constituencies. For all the negative publicity our elected representatives get, we don't hear the stories of how some MPs and their teams risked their personal safety to serve their constituency." 

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According to an official statement, over the next several weeks, GovernEye will seek brief interview sessions with all the MPs listed above to learn from them how India can be better prepared to face a similar crisis in the future.

India recorded 23,950 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, taking its total cases to 1.01 crore, the health ministry said on Wednesday. Less than 3 lakh of those are currently infected with the Coronavirus, it said. A total of 1,46,444 people have died of COVID-19 in the country, with 333 of those deaths coming in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

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(With agency inputs)