Jaya Bachchan set for 5th Rajya Sabha term: A look at her Parliament career till now

The Rajya Sabha has seen many actors as its members but not many have been as active and combative as Jaya Bachchan.

The veteran actor-turned-politician is all set for her fifth Rajya Sabha term as the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday renominated her as its candidate for the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh. With this, in the SP camp, she is on the cusp of equalling the record of Ram Gopal Yadav who became the first party leader to serve as a member of the Upper House five times. Along with Bachchan, the SP also named Ramji Lal Suman and Alok Ranjan from UP for the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls.

Bachchan is not known for taking things lying down. Following herheated exchange with Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar last week, she said in her farewell speech, “I am frequently asked why I get upset. I am that way by nature; I am not changeable. I lose my temper if I don’t like or agree with something. I apologise if I offended any of you or became personal.”

The actor-turned-politician is also one of the most active parliamentarians around. According to the legislative research body PRS, Bachchan, 75, has had an attendance of 82% in the Upper House between 2009 and 2024, three percentage points higher than the national average of 79%. However, it is a percentage point lower than the average for UP, the state she represents.

As against a national average of 199.7 for participation in Rajya Sabha debates, the actor has taken part in 292 debates between 2009 and 2024, significantly higher than UP’s average of 193.8 on this parameter. Bachchan has not introduced any Private Members’ Bill to date. She asked 451 questions during Question Hour in this period as against a national and state average of 667.02 and 598.07, respectively.