New Delhi, June 8
Following the election of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, the Congress is all set to stake claim on the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lower House.

Aware of its low numbers – 44 — in the Lok Sabha, the Congress will present itself not as a single party but as UPA with which it would have 58 MPs — a figure well past the 55-MP threshold some constitutional experts have cited as the requirement for an opposition party seeking recognition by Speaker in the House.

There is, however, division of legal opinion on this matter. Two past Lok Sabha Secretary Generals PDT Achary and TK Vishwanathan argue that there is no statutory requirement for a party to have 55 MPs in the House to be recognised as the Opposition party.

“This figure of 55 MPs is derived from quorum of the Lok Sabha which is 10 per cent of its strength of MPs. This number is not mentioned in the principle law on the subject – Leaders of Opposition Salaries and Allowances Act 1977. This law defines Leader of Opposition as “leader of the single largest party in opposition to the Government, recognized as such by the Speaker”. That party, in the current case, is the Congress though the Speaker has to recognise it as such,” Achary said.

Another former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash Kashyap has, however, argued for the 55-MP mark as a requirement for a party to stake claim for the Leader of Opposition post.

The Congress is not taking any chances as it knows the final decision on the matter rests with the Speaker who has said she will consider all existing laws and precedents to take a call. The party is expected to project two-time Gulbarga MP Mallikarjun Kharge, its Leader in Lower House, as the Leader of Opposition.

Capt Amarinder Singh, Congress’ Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha, said: “The BJP does not seem interested in giving us the post but we have a case and will soon stake the claim.” For the Congress, wresting the post is crucial as, the leader of Opposition sits on panels that select heads of the Lokpal, Chief Vigilance Commission, etc.

Already, the post of Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha and head ship of the Public Accounts Committee and Committee on Finance is not coming to the Congress, which was ironically the first in 1984 to break the convention of giving Deputy Speaker’s post to the opposition.