The post of Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha has been one of the bones of contention between the BJP-led Narendra Modi government and the Congress, which has renewed its campaign for the position ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. This is the first time that the Lok Sabha has functioned for over a year without having a Deputy Speaker.
Article 93 of the Constitution provides for election of both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha. While there has not been delay in the election of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker’s election has seen intense politicking at various times.
This became a political battle particularly after the first non-Congress government of the Janata Party offered the position to the Opposition. Delays in Deputy Speaker’s election became routine thereafter.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the floor leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, has requested Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to fill the post of Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Birla, however, on Thursday said it is not the duty of the Speaker to elect the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Birla deflected the issue towards the government and the House. However, commenting on the question about the need for a Deputy Speaker, he said, “If there is a provision for such a post, then obviously there is a necessity for it.”
THE CONGRESS GAME-PLAN
Two names are doing round from the Opposition camp – K Suresh of the Congress and Tiruchi Siva of the DMK. Both names have come from the Congress party, which got into an active mode earlier this week when it called for a joint Opposition candidate for the Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson.
The Congress’s own informal proposal of putting up K Suresh as Opposition nominee for the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker’s post may get it support from a united Opposition. Suresh is a seven-term Dalit MP and is on the Speaker’s panel of presiding officers.
However, the Congress’s decision to appoint Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as the West Bengal Congress chief may be an obstacle in having a consensus Opposition candidate. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress supremo, have had confrontational past.
To many in Bengal, appointment of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury came as a “tough message” to Mamata Banerjee. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has favoured a tie-up with the Left Front over an alliance with the TMC. The Left Front is a formidable rival to Mamata Banerjee.
Apparently to assuage Mamata Banerjee’s perceived bitterness over appointment of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as the Bengal Congress chief, the party has floated the idea of having a TMC nominee as the Opposition’s joint candidate.
MODI GOVERNMENT’S DILEMMA
The BJP has been reluctant in giving the Congress any handle in Parliament to turn the levers to its disadvantage. It was for this reason that the BJP refused to recognise the Congress’s claim to the Leader of Opposition post.
The Congress, of course, failed to win the required 10 per cent of the seats in the Lok Sabha but the government could still have given the position to the Congress. In 2019, the Congress fell only marginally short of the mark with 54 MPs in the 545-member house.
In the Rajya Sabha, the BJP got its ally, the JDU’s nominee Harivansh as the deputy chairperson after Congress leader PJ Kurien’s term expired in 2018. Harivansh is again in contention for September 14-election for the Deputy Chairperson’s post.
In the Lok Sabha, the BJP bucked from the tradition of offering the Deputy Speaker’s post to the Opposition. AIADMK leader M Thambidurai was the BJP’s choice in 2014. The AIADMK later became part of the NDA.
This time around, the Modi government has not been able to find a suitable non-Congress non-UPA party to agree to accept the post of the Deputy Speaker. Earlier this year, the BJP reached out to the BJD of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. But he was reluctant to be drawn in this political game at the Centre.
The next choice for the BJP was the YSRCP of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Jagan Mohan Reddy. The YSRCP had supported the BJP on contentious triple talaq bill. But given his vote bank among the Muslim and the Christian communities, Jagan Mohan is reportedly reluctant to be seen on the same side as the BJP.
This has left the BJP in a dilemma. It is not willing to accept a Congress or Congress-friendly MP as the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha. On the other hand, the indecision has caused an unusual delay in the election of the Deputy Speaker.
DEPUTY SPEAKER: ELECTION RULES
For record, according to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, “The election of a Deputy Speaker shall be held on such date as the Speaker may fix.”
But as per tradition Speaker Om Birla needs the nod of the government for announcing such an election. Once this is notified, one or more motions can be moved by members for election of a nominee as the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
No member can move a motion for his or her own election. If a properly moved motion is accepted by the simple majority of the house, the MP becomes the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha.