The 18th Lok Sabha will hold its first session from June 24 to July 3, during which the new Speaker of the House will be elected.
- Also, Senior Congress leader K Suresh, as the seniormost member of the Lok Sabha, is expected to be appointed pro tem Speaker.
About Pro tem Speaker
- Refers: ‘Pro-tem’ essentially means ‘for the time being’ or ‘temporarily’.
- Mentioned in: The Constitution does not mention the post. However, the official ‘Handbook on the Working of Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs’ speaks about the ‘Appointment and Swearing in of Speaker pro tem’.
- Appointment: Pro tem Speaker is appointed by the President.
- The handbook states when the Speaker post falls vacant before a new Lok Sabha, “the duties of the Speaker are to be performed by a Member of the House appointed for this purpose by the President as Speaker pro tem”.
- Time Allocation: Since the session of the Lok Sabha starts at 11 am, the time generally fixed for swearing in of the Speaker pro tem is in the morning of the same day at 9:30 am, subject to the convenience of the President.
- Duties: Administering Oaths to the new MPs: The Speaker pro tem then administers the oath/affirmation to the newly elected members with the help of the other three members.
- Three other elected members of the Lok Sabha are also appointed by the President for the MPs to take oath before them.
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- Under Article 99 of the Constitution, “Every Member of the House shall, before taking his seat, make and subscribe before the President or some person appointed in that behalf by him, an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule of the Constitution.”
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- According to the handbook, the senior most members (in terms of number of years of membership of the House) are generally chosen for the purpose, though there have been exceptions.
Identification for Senior Most Members
- A list of the seniormost Lok Sabha members has been prepared and is submitted to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs or the Prime Minister for identifying an MP as Speaker pro-tem and another three members for oath-taking.
- After the Prime Minister’s approval, the consent of these members is obtained by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, generally over the telephone.
- The Minister then submits a note to the President, seeking approval for the appointment of the Speaker pro tem and the other three members.
- They also decide the date and time of the swearing-in ceremony.
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About Speaker
- Rules for Election: The rules for electing the Speaker are laid down in Article 93 of the Constitution.
- The Speaker’s post falls vacant just before the new Lok Sabha meets for the first time.
- Until his/her selection, the pro tem Speaker is chosen to administer some important duties.
Article 94 of the Indian Constitution
- It states that whenever the House of the People is dissolved, the Speaker shall not vacate his office until immediately before the first meeting of the House of the People after the dissolution.
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- Criteria for Appointment: There are no criteria as such for a Speaker to be appointed.
- A Lok Sabha Speaker is elected by a simple majority. This means more than half of the members present in the house have to vote for a particular candidate to become the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
- Duties and Powers:
- Responsible for running the House.
- Decides the agenda for parliamentary meetings.
- Allows motions such as adjournments, and no-confidence, to name a few
- To punish unruly behaviour and even disqualify members on grounds of defection under the 10th schedule of the Constitution.
- In case of any dispute regarding the rules of the House, the Speaker interprets and applies these rules, which cannot be challenged.
- Being the Presiding Officer of the Lok Sabha, the Speaker has to fulfil certain key duties related to its day-to-day proceedings.
- Exhibit Quality of Non-Partisan: Since the House has members from ruling and opposition parties, the Speaker’s chair has to be non-partisan.
- The role assumes even more significance since the Speaker is also an elected member of the Lok Sabha, representing a particular party.
- Yet, there were some occasions when Speakers quit the party before assuming the role.
- Example: N Sanjiva Reddy resigned from the Congress after he was elected Speaker of the fourth Lok Sabha in March 1967.
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Few Important Points that need to be Know about the Speaker
Before Independence
- The post of the Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly witnessed a contest on six occasions between 1925 and 1946.
- In 1925: Elections to choose the Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly (the lower house of the then Imperial Legislative Council – the legislature of British India) were held for the first time on August 24.
- Swaraj Party leader Vitthalbhai J Patel, the first non-official member, won the election against T Rangachariar.
- In 1930: Patel was re-elected to the post unanimously in 1927. However, he quit the post on April 28, 1930 following a call for Civil Disobedience by Mahatma Gandhi.
- Sir Muhammad Yakub won the Speaker’s election in 1930.
- In 1933: Sir Ibrahim Rahimtoola won the Speaker’s election. However, he resigned on health grounds on March 7, 1933.
- He was succeeded by Shanmukham Chetty on March 14, 1933 as the unanimous choice.
- In 1935: Sir Abdur Rahim was elected as the Speaker of the Fifth Assembly.
- Rahim held the office for more than 10 years as the tenure of the fifth Legislative Assembly was extended from time to time on account of the contemplated constitutional changes and World War II.
- In 1946: The last contest for the post of the Central Legislative Assembly Speaker was held on January 24, 1946 and GV Mavalankar won the election.
- Mavalankar was subsequently appointed as the Speaker of the Constituent Assembly and the Provisional Parliament that came into being after the Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950.
- Mavalankar continued to be the Speaker of the Provisional Parliament till April 17, 1952 when the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were constituted after the first general elections.
Uncontested since Independence
- Since Independence, Lok Sabha Speakers have been chosen by consensus between both the ruling and opposition parties.
- Only MA Ayyangar, GS Dhillon, Balram Jakhar and GMC Balayogi have been re-elected to the Speaker’s posts in the subsequent Lok Sabhas.
- In 1956, Ayyangar, the first Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, was chosen as the Speaker following the death of Mavalankar. He was chosen as the Speaker of the 2nd Lok Sabha too.
- Dhillon was chosen as the Speaker of the 4th and 5th Lok Sabha.
- Jakhar was Speaker of the seventh and the 8th Lok Sabhas and holds the distinction of being the only presiding officer to complete two full terms.
- Balayogi was chosen as the Speaker of the 12th Lok Sabha and the 13th Lok Sabha.
- The Speaker of the Lok Sabha has always been elected without any contest since Independence.
- So, if the Opposition INDIA bloc forces an election for the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha on June 26, it would be the first such instance in the history of Independent India.
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June 19, 2024