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Initiate process to elect Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker without more delay: Kharge
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s M Thambi Durai held the post last in the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-2019) while the BJP’s Sumitra Mahajan was the Speaker
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to initiate the process of electing a Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker without further delay, underlining the post has been vacant since 2019. He said this was the first instance of the position remaining vacant.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra’s Kazhagam M Thambi Durai held the post last in the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-2019) while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Sumitra Mahajan was the Speaker.
The ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has declined to comment on why the position has not been filled or whether there is any move to elect a deputy speaker.
Kharge said that every House has had a Deputy Speaker from the first to the 16th Lok Sabha. He added by and large, it has been a well-established convention to appoint the Deputy Speaker from among the members of the main Opposition party. “...for the first time in independent India’s history, this position has remained vacant for two consecutive Lok Sabha terms. No Deputy Speaker was elected during the Seventeenth Lok Sabha, and this concerning precedent continues in the ongoing Eighteenth Lok Sabha,” he said.
Kharge said that a vacant position does not augur well for India’s democratic polity and is also in violation of well-laid-out provisions of the Constitution. “Article 93 of the Constitution of India mandates the election of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the House of the People. Constitutionally, the Deputy Speaker is the second-highest presiding officer of the House after the Speaker.”
Kharge said that the Deputy Speaker has been elected in the second or third session of a newly constituted Lok Sabha. “The procedure for this election mirrors that of the Speaker, with the only distinction being that the date for the Deputy Speaker’s election is fixed by the Speaker, as per Rule 8(1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha,” said Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Article 93 of the Constitution mandates that the Lok Sabha must choose two members as Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Article 95(1) says the Deputy Speaker performs the duties of the Speaker when the post is vacant. The Deputy Speaker has the same general powers as the Speaker when presiding over the House.
There is no time frame for the appointment of the Deputy Speaker. The rules call for the appointment “as soon as may be”. The Deputy Speaker is elected by a simple majority of members present and voting.
