As many as 17 Indian Members of Parliament (MPs) tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, the first day of the 18-day Monsoon Session of the Indian parliament.
Among the infected MPs, a maximum of 12 belonged to the country’s main ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while the others belonged to other regional or state-level political parties.
All the 17 lawmakers are from the Indian parliament’s lower house Lok Sabha.
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They were tested at the testing facilities set up on Parliament House premises on Sept. 13 and Sept. 14, sources said.
According to media reports, around 200 of the total 785 sitting MPs (from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) are above the age of 65 years, the population which is vulnerable to COVID-19.
Over the past five months, at least seven union ministers and around 25 lawmakers and members of state legislatures had contracted the disease.
Among them was Union Home Minister, Amit Shah.