By IANS,
Chennai : One asked 1,200 questions in parliament and another would give a yearly report of his performance to voters. But all this did not cut much ice with the electorate as S.K. Kharventhan and M. Ramadass both lost the Lok Sabha polls.
Kharventhan contesting from Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu lost to AIADMK’s C. Sivasamy by over 8,000 votes while in Puducherry incumbent Ramadass lost to V. Narayanasamy of the Congress by over 91,000 votes.
As a Congress MP from Palani in Tamil Nadu, Kharventhan raised many issues, drawing the attention of the government and the public. He asked a total of 1,200 questions during the five-year term of the Lok Sabha and took part in 187 debates.
PMK’s Ramadass was the only member in the 14th Lok Sabha to submit to people an annual report of his activities as their representative.
Ramadass, who hails from the fishermen community, took part in 151 parliament debates, raised 380 questions and scored 94 percent attendance.
Both MPs had used media reports of their Lok Sabha performance to woo voters in their respective constituencies.
With the Palani constituency scrapped in the delimitation exercise, Kharventhan was initially apprehensive when he was given the ticket to contest from the hosiery town of Tirupur.
Speaking about Congress’ unexpected poor showing in the elections, D.Sudharsanam, Tamil Nadu Congress Legislative Party leader, told IANS: “We suffered reverses in the Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode belt owing to new party floated by Kongu Vellalar Gounders.”