Shrikant Shinde, Sukanta Majumdar among five MPs selected for Sansad Ratna Awards this year

New Delhi: Five Lok Sabha members, including the BJP’s Sukanta Majumdar and Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Eknath Shinde, have been selected for the Sansad Ratna Awards this year, its organisers announced on Sunday.

The BJP’s Sudheer Gupta, NCP’s Amol Ramsing Kolhe and Congress’ Kuldeep Rai Sharma are the other three MPs selected for the awards to be presented at a function in the national capital on February 17.

The Sansad Ratna Awards are presented annually to the top-performing parliamentarians based on their performance, while the Sansad Maha Ratna Awards are presented once in five years for consistency in performance during the term of the Lok Sabha.

Chennai-based non-profit charitable trust Prime Point Foundation instituted these honours at instance of former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam, who himself inaugurated the first award event in 2010 in Chennai. Prime Point Foundation’s founder and chairman K Srinivasan said these awards are based on comprehensive performance, with nominees being selected by a distinguished jury committee chaired by Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, and T S Krishnamurthy, former chief election commissioner of India.