Lok Sabha Speaker of India: Explained [UPSC]

In this article, we will discuss the Lok Sabha Speaker of india in a simple and easy way, and understand its various important aspects, Such as history, provisions, power and functions etc.; So to understand the article well, definitely read till the end and also read other related articles.

[ The basics of Lok Sabha have been covered in another article, for better understanding, read it first – Lok Sabha: Role, Structure, Functions etc]

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Role of Speaker of Lok Sabha

As we know Parliament is made up of three components; Lok Sabha , Rajya Sabha and President . Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are the two houses of the Parliament out of which the lower house of the Parliament is called the Lok Sabha. The presiding officer of the Lok Sabha is called the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. He is responsible for the conduct of the Lok Sabha. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha is the head of the Lok Sabha and its representatives and is the chief spokesperson of the House.

The executive is responsible to the Lok Sabha and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is usually from the ruling party, so the post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha becomes very important. In all parliamentary matters, his decision is final, in this post the Speaker has immense and important responsibilities.

President’s election and term of office

The Lok Sabha is an assembly of the general public where representatives elected by direct voting sit. At present, Lok Sabha elections are held on 543 seats, that is, 543 members come here after electing them. After the first sitting of the Lok Sabha after the election, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are elected from among the members present. This has been provided in Article 93 . The President decides the date of election of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Usually the Speaker of the Lok Sabha remains the Speaker till the time the Lok Sabha is dissolved. However , according to Article 94 , his office can be terminated earlier in the following three cases.

1. Since the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is a member of the Lok Sabha, therefore if he is not able to remain a member of the House for any reason, his post of Speaker also end,

2. If he resigns, addressed to the Deputy Speaker,

3 If he is removed from his office by a resolution passed by a majority of the Lok Sabha . But such resolution cannot be moved unless at least 14 days prior notice has been given.

When the Lok Sabha is dissolved, the Speaker does not relinquish his office, he holds office till the new Lok Sabha meets.

Lok Sabha: Role, Structure, Functions	Hindi	English
Rajya Sabha: Constitution, Powers	Hindi	English
Parliamentary Motion	Hindi	English

Some facts related to the post of Speaker of Lok Sabha

Article 95 – Power of person to perform the duties of the office of Speaker

(1) When the office of the President is vacant, the Vice-President performs his duties. and if the office of the Deputy Speaker is also vacant, such member of the Lok Sabha as the President may appoint for the purpose; shall perform the duties of that post.

(2) In the absence of the Speaker from any sitting of the Lok Sabha, the Deputy Speaker shall act as Speaker. If he is also absent, such person as may be determined by the rules of procedure of the House of the People, shall act as Speaker.

Article 96 – When a resolution for the removal of the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker is under consideration, it shall not preside

(1) At any meeting of the Lok Sabha, when a resolution for the removal of the Speaker from his office is under consideration, the Speaker shall not preside, notwithstanding his presence. In such a situation, Article 95(2) becomes effective, so as to provide for a new Speaker.

(2) When a resolution for the removal of the Speaker is under consideration, the Speaker cannot preside but he has the right to speak and take part in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha. He also has the right to vote in the first place, but in case of equality of votes, he does not have the right to vote.

Power and Functions of Speaker of Lok Sabha

The Speaker of the Lok Sabha gets his duties and powers mainly from three sources :- Constitution of India, Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Lok Sabha and Parliamentary Tradition. Thus, the following are the powers and duties of the Speaker:

1. He decides the rules and regulations for the proceedings and conduct of the House. This is his primary duty. His decision is final.

2. In the House, he is the final interpreter of the Constitution of India, the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Lok Sabha and parliamentary conventions.

3. Under Article 100 , it is the duty of the Speaker to adjourn the House for want of quorum. In fact, the quorum or quorum is one-tenth of the strength of the House. That is, if the House does not have 55 members, then the Speaker will adjourn the House.

4. Under Article 100 , the Speaker of the Lok Sabha does not vote in the House during the voting in the ordinary case but can vote in the event of a tie. In other words, if the votes of both the parties and the opposition are equal on any issue, then the Speaker can exercise his vote. Such a vote is called a casting vote/deciding vote and is intended to end the deadlock.

5. If there is a lot of deadlock between the two houses on a bill, then to end that deadlock, the President calls a joint sitting of both the houses, which is presided over by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

6. He can call a secret meeting on the request of the Leader of the House. When a secret meeting is held, no stranger is allowed to enter the chamber or gallery.

7. The Speaker has the power to decide which is a Money Bill and which is not. His decision in this matter is final. [Read Money Bill and Finance Bill for more details]

8. Under the Tenth Schedule, on the basis of the anti-defection provision, whether a person continues to be a member of the House or not, it is decided by the Speaker. However, the decision of the Speaker in this regard can be challenged in the court. [Read Anti-defection law for more details]

9. He serves as the ex-officio Chairman of the Indian Parliamentary Group which acts as a link between the Indian Parliament and the Parliaments of the world.

10. He appoints the chairman of all the parliamentary committees of the Lok Sabha and supervises their work. He himself is also the chairman of the Business Advisory Committee, the Rules Committee and the General Purposes Committee.

independence and impartiality of the presidency

The following provisions ensure the independence and impartiality of the Speaker:-

1. The Speaker can be removed from his office only on the passing of a resolution by a special majority of the then members of the Lok Sabha (not by a simple majority). This process also requires the support of at least 50 members for consideration or discussion.

2. His salary and allowances are determined by the Parliament

3. His actions and conduct can neither be discussed nor criticized in the Lok Sabha except on an independent and original motion

4. The position of the Speaker is very high in the priority list. He is placed at the seventh position along with the Chief Justice of India. That is, he is above all the cabinet ministers except the prime minister or the deputy prime minister.

Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker

Under Article 93, after the Speaker is elected, the Deputy Speaker is also elected from amongst the members of the Lok Sabha. If the seat of the Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the Lok Sabha elects another member for that seat.

Like the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker also holds his office until the Lok Sabha is dissolved but he can leave his office even before that in the following three situations:-

1. On the loss of his membership of the House
2. To the Speaker addressed by resignation under his hand, and;
3. On his removal from his office by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members of the Lok Sabha. No such resolution shall be moved unless notice of at least 14 days has been given.

When the office of the Speaker becomes vacant or on the absence of the Speaker in a sitting of the House, the Deputy Speaker performs his functions. When this happens, the Vice-President gets all the powers of the Speaker. Similarly, in a joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament, in the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker is the presiding officer.

Remember one thing here that the Deputy Speaker is not subordinate to the Speaker, but he is directly responsible to the Parliament.

The Deputy Speaker has a privilege that whenever he is made a member of a Parliamentary Committee, he naturally becomes its Chairman.

Like the Speaker, the Vice-President also cannot vote for the first time when he is presiding, but casts his vote in case of equality of votes.

When a resolution to remove the Deputy Speaker is under consideration, he cannot preside, although he has the right to be present in the House.

When the Speaker presides over the House, the Deputy Speaker is like other members of the House. During that time he can speak in the House, take part in the proceedings and can also vote on any question.

According to Article 97 , the salary and allowances of the Deputy Speaker, like the Speaker, are determined by the Parliament which is charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.

Until the 10th Lok Sabha, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker usually belonged to the ruling party. It was agreed from the 11th Lok Sabha that the Speaker should be from the ruling party and the Deputy Speaker should be from the main opposition party.

◼ Under the rules of the Lok Sabha, the Speaker nominates 10 members from among the members to the Speaker’s table. Its advantage is that if the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker is absent in both the houses, then the member of this table can be the presiding officer. When presiding, his power is similar to that of the Speaker. He holds office until the nomination of a new Chairman’s table is made.

But if a member of this panel also remains absent, the House can appoint any other person as the Speaker. Here one thing is to be noted that when the post of Speaker or Deputy Speaker is vacant, then a member of the Chairman’s table cannot be the Presiding Officer of the House. (This is valid only in case of absenteeism) Then elections are held for the vacant posts as soon as possible.

History of the President and Vice President

The President and Vice President system was started in 1921 under the provision of the Government of India Act 1919. The President and Vice-President at that time were called President and Deputy President respectively. In 1921, Frederick White and Satchidanand Sinha were appointed the first president and first vice president respectively.

Under the Government of India Act 1935, the President and the Deputy President were called the President and the Vice-President respectively, but in practice this came into force from 1947, because under the Act of 1935, the federal part was not implemented. Yes. V. Mavalankar and Ananth Saynam Iyengar were made the first Speaker and the first Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha respectively.

List of Speakers of Lok Sabha

No.	Name	joining	resignation
1	Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar	15 May 1952	27 February 1956
2	Ananth Saynam Iyengar	8 March 1956	16 April 1962
3	Sardar Hukam Singh	17 April 1962	16 March 1967
4	Neelam Sanjiv Reddy	17 March 1967	19 July 1969
5	Yes. s. Dhillon	8 August 1969	1 December 1975
6	Bali Ram Bhagat	15 January 1976	25 March 1977
7	Neelam Sanjiv Reddy	26 March 1977	13 July 1977
8	KS Hegde	21 July 1977	21 January 1980
9	Balram Jakhar	22 January 1980	18 December 1989
10	Ravi Rai	19 December 1989	9 July 1991
11	Shivraj Patil	10 July 1991	22 May 1996
12	P. A. sangma	25 May 1996	23 March 1998
13	GMC Balayogi	24 March 1998	3 March 2002
14	Manohar Joshi	10 May 2002	2 June 2004
15	Somnath Chatterjee	4 June 2004	30 May 2009
16	Meera Kumar	4 June 2009	4 June 2014
17	Sumitra Mahajan	6 June 2014	17 June 2019
18	Om Birla	19 June 2019	,