JDU parliamentarian Harivansh files nomination for Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: JDU parliamentarian Harivansh on Wednesday filed his nomination papers for the post of Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. As the NDA candidate, he is likely to be elected. Harivansh held the post from August 2018, but his RS term ended on April 9. With his RS re-election, he became NDA’s natural choice for the post. In 2018, it was BJP which suggested his name to his party leader Nitish Kumar, who accepted the suggestion. The Opposition is likely to field DMK’s Tiruchi Siva but Harivansh’s is assured of victory as BJP alone has 87 members in the RS and the majority mark is 123. JDU (5), AIADMK (9), BJD (9), SAD (3), TRS (7) and YSRCP (6) are likely to support him along with several smaller parties.

Though the Upper House is set to re-elect the Chairman’s deputy for the second time in two years, the government has still not made any move to elect the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker. This is for the first time that the Lower House has functioned without a Deputy Speaker for over a year since 1969. The 17th Lok Sabha was constituted in June 2019 and Speaker Om Birla has functioned with the help of a panel of 10 presiding officers he appointed in July 2019.

Rama Devi, Meenakshi Lekhi, Rajendra Agarwal, Kirit Solanki (all BJP), Kodikunnil Suresh (Congress), A Raja (DMK), PV Midhun Reddy (YSRCP), Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD), NK Premachandran (RSP) and Kakoli Ghoshdastidar (Trinamool) are the ten presiding officers who conduct the House in the absence of the Speaker. Parliamentary rules do not have a timeframe for appointing a Deputy Speaker or Deputy Chairperson. However, these posts are not kept vacant for long usually.