Osama Manzar, member of the working group for Internet proliferation and governance at the ministry of communication and information technology, writes in the Mint that elected representatives of the Indian people have negligible virtual presence. He cites the findings of a survey by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (Manzar is the founder of the organisation) and says that MPs, MLAs and panchayat representatives have largely kept away from any kind of online engagement with the people of their constituencies.

The survey found that only 80 out of 545 (14 percent) Lok Sabha members are online, more than the percentage of Indian citizens online. Only 15 states have their MPs online, and another 15 states have none. In the entire northeastern region, consisting of eight states, only one parliamentarian is online, Agatha Sangma from Meghalaya. Andhra Pradesh tops the list with 14 MPs online, followed by Uttar Pradesh (13), Maharashtra (10), Kerala (8), Karnataka (7), Bihar (4), West Bengal (4), Tamil Nadu (3), two each from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. Uttarakhand and Orissa have only one MP online. The states having none of its MPs online are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
"The current Lok Sabha has the highest number of women MPs ever at 59, 14 more than the last House. But, only six women MPs are online.

While 86 percent of the MPs could not be found online, those who have web presence have done so as their personal endeavour. Almost all of them have their website on their personal names, either in the form of website or a blog," Manzar writes in a column in Mint.

"It is obvious that while 14% of the MPs who are online, none are officially so. It is important to note that while MPs or elected representatives come and go, the constituencies they represent remain. It is, therefore, critical that the Lok Sabha and all state legislative assemblies decide that their constituencies should have online presence and the given MP or MLA is the caretaker of the website who should be made responsible to present the ins and outs of all that is happening in the constituency, including how they are spending their constituency fund and what questions are they asking in Parliament and assembly, among others. Besides, there should be a provision in the fund to allocate appropriate fund towards building, managing and updating the website, including web and other digital media as tools to interact with the electorate," he writes.