TDP, JD (U) eye Lok Sabha Speaker’s post: Know the importance of the custodian of House

Tribune News Service

Vibha Sharma   

New Delhi, June 6

The support for a numerically challenged BJP appears to be coming at a price with allies demanding key Cabinet/ministerial berths, special status for respective states and, as sources indicate, also the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker. While the demand for Cabinet and ministerial berths is understandable, the big question is why are Telugu Desam Party’s N Chandrababu Naidu and Janata Dal (U)’s Nitish Kumar clamouring for the Speaker’s post.

Notably, the TDP with 16 seats and the JD (U) with 12 seats hold the key to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government 3.0. Normally, in a coalition, the party with largest number (in this case the BJP) keeps the post because of multiple reasons, the most critical being to ensure stability and security of its government.

Generally, the first agenda of the House is to elect the Speaker of Lok Sabha. Prior to that the President swears in the pro-tem Speaker who is normally the senior-most member of the House who then administers the oath or the affirmation to the newly elected members. Then the elected representatives become the members of the new Parliament and elect a Speaker from amongst themselves. As per convention, the post of Deputy Speaker is given to a member of the Opposition

For a party with a comfortable majority, like BJP in the past two tenures, the Speaker’s post has been mostly ceremonial. In fact, the post of the Deputy Speaker was also kept vacant.

But as the head of the Lok Sabha, the Speaker is the custodian of the House, maintains order in the House, can adjourn/ suspend proceedings in case of absence of decorum, etc. Importantly, the Speaker is also the final authority regarding rules and procedures, and for a party which may not be having a majority on its own, he or she also holds the key to its stability with final say in issues/disputes related to disqualification and situations like a vote of no-confidence against the government.

Experts say the Speaker’s role becomes important when it comes to proving majority on the floor of the House or in case the anti-defection law comes into play.

Take, for example, the classic case of the fall of BJP’s Atal Behari Vajpayee’s 13-month government in 1999 by just one vote. Cutting the long story short, Giridhar Gamang, who had just become the Congress Chief Minister in Odisha, was allowed to vote in the confidence motion against the government by the Speaker who left the decision to the “conscious” of the voter.

Interestingly, to achieve the majority, the then BJP-led NDA had offered the post of Speaker to the TDP, following which GMC Balayogi, party MP from Amalapuram, was appointed the Speaker.

“When it comes to the Lok Sabha, the Speaker’s decision is final. The TDP, which has been a part of several coalition governments, knows the importance of the post,” say experts.

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